Vladlen Tatarsky is military reporter from the Donbass. In 2014 he joined the People’s Militia in Gorlovka, served in the Vityaz regiment of the LPR. Today Vladlen Tatarsky is back on the front line, as a special military correspondent. On October 3 and 4, he released new videos describing the military situation on the front lines and responding to the question why are Russians retreating.
You may see the full script of the video from October 3 here:
The situation in the Kherson direction remains alarming.
The enemy tried to advance near the Dnieper on Berislav. As of today, as far as I know, the enemy has been stopped, there are artillery duels going on. The enemy is trying to gain a foothold, their “hammered” another wedge into our defense from the north.
The AFU also attacked and want to cut off the upper part of the Kherson ledge. Our troops provide desperate resistance and beat the enemy. I contacted the guys, they say that a lot of Ukrainian soldiers were killed there, this “meat grinder” can be compared to the First World War. They say there are thousands lying there. I understand that not thousands, but hundreds and hundreds of its soldiers Ukraine is losing there.
Further. Near Krasny Liman, the situation is again alarming. Krasny Liman was taken, the enemy is eager for Kremennaya, further to Svatovo. After that, the AFU plan to attack Lisichansk and they will try to “squeeze” everything possible from this success. There is information that troops are being transferred from other directions exactly there in order to develop maximum success there in the direction of Svatovo – Kremennaya.
I confess honestly, I do not justify anyone, this is a shameful defeat under Krasny Liman, a shameful defeat under Balakleya, Izyum, but if you look objectively, even if the enemy will move further, it will not decide the outcome of the war! No way, it will not decide the outcome of the war! Now we will mobilize, stop the enemy and then drive him in the opposite direction, i.e. this is objective, this is a fact! There are no other options there.
Even if they take Svatovo, no matter what they take further, it will not change the situation at the front in any way.
The fall of the Kherson bridgehead will of course change the situation at the front very much. Firstly, we will not have a bridgehead on the right bank. We will not be able to advance on Nikolaev. But one day we will step on it, it will be 100%!
If the enemy liquidates this bridgehead, it is clear that he can leave some purely symbolic units along the Dnieper, and transfer the vacated reserves to those areas where there will be a prospect for an offensive. Of course, I worry about all directions, but Kherson is more important strategically!
Now the most popular conversations are: “Why are we losing?,” “Why are we retreating?,” “Why, why, why?.” In response, various reasons are voiced, this is a lie that the authorities deceive and make unreliable reports… there are a lot of reasons, but the main thing is the system itself! The system criterion should be efficiency. The criterion in the army system should be nothing other than combat training and the ability of soldiers to kill enemies of the fatherland.
If the temperature regime is observed in your barracks, if the APC is correctly painted, if everything is “clear” with the personnel and with any of the fighters there are no problems, if the logs are correctly filled – this is all not efficiency criteria! Yes, this shows discipline, but this is not a criterion for effectiveness.
The criterion for effectiveness is: “Are your soldiers capable of fighting? Are they capable of killing enemies? Are they capable of defeating the enemy while remaining less vulnerable to the enemy?” Here are the criteria for effectiveness! And this includes: combat training, real, not a photo report, not a slider. It’s bad that in the army 2022 there was no slider, he would greatly facilitate the work of many commanders, just so that they release slides: here, please, photos! Do you understand? It’s not necessary!
I wrote about it today, just imagine, I once worked at a mine where we mined coal, mined 500 tons – the guys work well. Did not extract 500 tons – bad! I can’t imagine our mining master just taking pictures of coal and saying we were mining it and just filling out a log. This cannot be! But for some reason, this is possible in our army.
Now many can say: you are slandering the army or something else! In no case, guys, any war and I emphasize it, any war reveals some shortcomings. Whatever the ideal army is, all the same, when the fighting begins, flaws are revealed. This is normal, because we thought so, but it turned out differently.
BUT! The question is different: how quickly can we change anything? We saw a drawback – we need to change. We saw a person cannot cope – we need to change. Where we saw the problem – there we need to change! And if we close our eyes and do not change, then we will lose! For example, we turned a blind eye to problems in the spring, we turned a blind eye to problems in the summer and now we’re retreating, and if we began to solve these problems in March, April, then of course, what is happening now would not be possible!
Imagine our brothers and sisters in Krasny Liman, in Kupyansk, in Izyum again under the fifth occupiers, under the fifth of these animals.. Do you understand the state of these people? Who are no longer young, who have our Russian principles, but they cannot defend themselves, we must protect them! And we cannot do this, we should be ashamed. I’m personally ashamed! For everything that happens, I worry as if I am to blame for it.
Therefore, guys, we need to open our eyes correctly to problems, if we do not carry out reforms in military affairs now, then we will continue to suffer defeats! It’s obvious. I will repeat once again: the problems do not disappear on their own!
Even despite the defeat, the morale of our fighters is high, the guys want to kill enemies, and the guys want to win! They don’t want peace at all cost, they want to win. Yes, it’s hard for them, many are tired, but they do not imagine their future life if Russia suddenly loses in this war. Therefore, of course, everyone has the determination to fight to the end and we will do it!
If we take the history of the Great Patriotic War, there is constantly Stalin, the generals changed something, reformed something. Do not treat the reform of the army as a sacred cow that cannot be touched. No, we will change and everything will be fine and we will win. I just want to cheer you up with this!
Start changing something in your units, in your personal training, learn how to distinguish a tank from an APC, BMP. Master the AGL, master the grenade launcher, do not just pass by and watch: “Guys, what is it and how to approach it?,” “If it is jammed, what to do with it?.”
Start with everyone, everyone must raise the level of combat training and we will definitely win, because Russia has good karma – to win in the most incredible situations!
I have already said many times and I will say again, do you remember Nikita Mikhalkov’s arthouse film, which shows a spider crawling into the eyes of a German, oil spills, everyone explodes. or a mosquito flies into his eye, it doesn’t matter… Now is a difficult time, but do not despair, our Orthodox mosquito, our Orthodox spider will definitely crawl into the enemy’s eye and everything will explode there.
Russia has always won against common sense, contrary to all circumstances, the enemy has always been defeated, and the victory was ours!
I wish everyone everything bright and clear!
On October 4, Vladlen Tatarsky released another video debating on other challenges to the Russian military system. In particular, he once again repeated that the Russian military has to fight the outnumbered Ukrainian Army, inflicting heavy losses to the enemy. Russian servicemen have to defend their military positions being fired by foreign high-precision weapons like HIMARS MLRS amid the constant surveillance by NATO satellite systems and UAVs.
He also raised the issue of the ongoing mobilization in Russia. He claims that he receives letters from servicemen who are undergoing military training before being sent to the front. The servicemen state that in some regions training is not organized at the proper level.
“It is possible to fight with unprepared people, but it is fraught with great losses. People will not be able to perform the assigned combat tasks. Our task is to defeat the entire army of the West, this LGBT community, in Ukraine and eliminate Ukrainian statehood. We need not to defend, but to advance, and in order to advance we need a well-trained army. It’s bad if we learn from blood.”
He recalled that Russia has always won the West. Rare defeats were the result of betrayal.
