Novaya Gusarovka, Kharkiv region, Ukraine – Protests erupted in Russian cities after President Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilization of his army. As part of the mobilization, military reserves will be sent to the front lines in Putin's war with neighboring Ukraine, a front line that has recently collapsed in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks.
After humiliating defeats on the battlefields around Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, CBS News correspondent Deborah Bata saw how frustrated Putin's forces were on the ground.
Kharkiv, the most heavily fortified Russian base in the occupied northeastern region, fell within hours of being besieged by Ukrainian forces.
Putin mobilizes more troops after dealing with setbacks 04:08
According to him, the six-day operation in the area was led by Lieutenant-General of the Special Forces Taras Berezovets Brigade in Bohon.
"If the Ukrainian army fails here, I think the whole attack is in danger," he told CBS News.
The small village of Novaya Gusarovka has a Russian base called Moskva or Moscow in the line of fire. Russian forces set up their regional headquarters here, but now, looking at the base, Bata said they fled in a hurry, it was like a museum of terrorism.
The cards in poker that were interrupted by the Ukrainian invasion are still on the table where they were thrown. Military rations, gas masks, musical instruments – everything remained in place. It appears that the commanders initially fled, leaving their forces in a nearby camp.
Senior Lieutenant Taras Berezovets of the Bohun Brigade of Ukrainian Special Forces inspects items left by Russian soldiers in a trench who fled the front line in the Kharkiv region in September 2022. CBS News.
Bata followed a long series of Russian trenches dug near the base that Putin's forces had occupied for more than six months. Leave it as is. Food jars, a fur coat, religious icons, and an old typewriter were dropped as soldiers fled.
"Ukrainian forces effectively attacked the Russians," Berezovets told PAT. “Not from the front… they were coming from the side.”
"They ran away from here like mice," he boasts.
The Russians who captured territory in the region must have been one of the elite units of their country, including several paratroopers.
President Biden criticizes Russia and Vladimir Putin in UN speech 05:09
Those Putin now invites to the front lines are much less experienced soldiers, some of whom have never fought. With the Russian army partially mobilized, Putin found himself calling 300,000 men to fight. Some Russians had already been drafted into the army, and all medically trained reservists were ordered to do so immediately.
The move was widely unpopular and sparked protests across the country, with more than 1,300 people arrested shortly after Putin's announcement, according to independent Russian monitoring group OVD-Info.
Russian police arrest demonstrators during a protest against President Vladimir Putin's partial military mobilization amid the war in Ukraine, September 21, 2022, in Moscow, Russia. GT
CBS News reported that Ukraine detained hundreds of Russian soldiers during a raid near Kharkiv. It should be used in a prisoner exchange like the last exchange, which released more than 200 people fighting for Ukraine, including two Americans.
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