Commander of the 1st Separate Assault Regiment Dmytro Filatov “Perun” said the AFU command post in Huliaipole was abandoned without a fight due to panic and commanders’ negligence, even though only three Russian soldiers infiltrated the city

8 comments

1. **Translation**:
   >
   > **Source**: Filatov in a comment to Suspilne.
   >
   > **Direct quote:** “An unfortunate incident, so to speak. Unfortunate in terms of how the command post’s security was organized, unfortunate in terms of the actions of the personnel. And judging by the audio recordings that were made public — unfortunate actions by unit leadership, urging personnel to abandon positions. This is what leads to such fatal consequences.
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   > An infiltrated group consisting of three Russian servicemen… they simply heard the noise of a generator and began an assault. Accordingly, instead of repelling the attack and putting up a worthy fight, the command-and-observation post was abandoned. The equipment and data carriers that were there were not destroyed…”
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   > **Details**: The commander stressed that these three Russian servicemen had no sufficient support, as they were backed neither by UAVs nor artillery.
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   > “An enemy that has penetrated to such depth does not even have stable communication with its command post. They act at their own discretion, and their task is to sow panic — and they succeeded. There were enough of our fighters there to repel three Russian servicemen,” says “Perun.”
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   > According to the commander of the 1st Separate Assault Regiment, the situation in Huliaipole remains tense, largely due to negligent actions by commanders.
   >
   > **Direct quote**: “Other units have now entered that sector, and all directions where Russian troops advanced are currently blocked. A certain number of infiltrated enemy elements remain inside the settlement itself. To destroy them, certain measures must be carried out. Ideally, assault groups should clear the city, but the two brigades that held positions there are not capable of blocking the advance of the Russian army. They lack the capacity to do so even with full manning.”
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   > What preceded this: A serviceman eyewitness presented his version of events regarding the capture of the command post by the occupiers. According to him, gasoline had been prepared to burn down the headquarters of one of the territorial defense battalions in Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia Region, during the withdrawal, but it was not used. He also spoke about the battalion’s losses. According to him, all valuable information that might have been on the abandoned equipment is now “simply no longer relevant.”
   >
   > **Background**:
   >
   > * A video appeared online allegedly showing Russians capturing a command-and-observation post of one of the Ukrainian units in central Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia Region. The video was likely disseminated by Russians and later spread through chats of Ukrainian servicemen. The footage shows a command-and-observation post of one of the Territorial Defense brigades apparently abandoned by Ukrainian troops, with working computers, documentation, and even an unlocked phone left behind. Ukrainska Pravda sources said the incident occurred on December 18.
   >
   > * In a comment to Ukrainska Pravda, the spokesperson for the Southern Defense Forces, Vladyslav Voloshyn, said the stated facts are being checked for authenticity and an investigation will be conducted.
   >
   > * A source speaking to hromadske confirmed that the Russians showed a real command post that belonged to the 1st Battalion of the 106th Brigade. Previously, it was the 75th Battalion within the 102nd Brigade. According to the serviceman, more than ten fighters were present at the headquarters. When the Russians approached, Ukrainian troops engaged in a small-arms firefight.
   >
   > * He added that after withdrawing from their positions, the 1st Battalion of the 106th Brigade exposed the flank of the 2nd Battalion of the 102nd Brigade, allowing the enemy to enter from the village of Marfopil and from the northeastern side of Huliaipole.
   >
   > * Meanwhile, relatives of servicemen from the 1st Battalion of the 106th Brigade claim that the unit’s fighters spent more than a month encircled in Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia Region, and when they finally broke out, they were transferred to the 225th Assault Regiment and ordered to return to the city.
   >

2. I don’t even know if those just being three Russian soldiers is actually a good or a bad sign.

   But if Ukrainian side does not fully understand why was there panic in the first place – they must investigate that asap, because this is a pretty bad fail.

3. Jesus Christ…

4. “War is always a tragicomedy of errors.”

   This has got to sting, for sure, but the difference between panicking and abandoning a command post prematurely, once, and trying to cross the Siverskyi Donets using the same tactics 26 times in a row is whether you learn from your mistakes.

   And as Ukraine is demonstrating, the first step in learning from your mistakes is to openly acknowledge them. So that you can start to talk about what to do differently next time.

5. Those three russian soldiers have balls of steel…apparently they survived too, gonna get brought back to russia for some medals now.

   The loss was quite tremendous, there were comms equipment and laptops lost to russia, would be a goldmine of intel. God knows what kind of information was saved on those laptop and cell phone. I would not be surprised if there were information that were not supposed to be there as well.

6. Does that mean that whole battalion, which is few hundred men, was unable to secure their command post … and when infiltrated by only three enemy soldiers they all ran away so russians just walked in.

   What kind of nonsense this is? Those 3 russians were probably super Spetznas …

7. Ngl, this sounds like cope.

8. This reminds me of something I read in a collection of diaries from German soldiers partaking in the invasion of Norway. After the Brits had landed in Åndalsnes and moved to Lillehammer to halt the German advance north, two Germans on a motorbike with a side-car got lost and accidentaly drove straight into Lillehammer. When they looked around and realised they were in the middle of the British forces they yelled out that the British were surrounded and should lay down their arms. Undersupplied and in shock of there being Germans suddenly in their midst, the British complied. Thus Lillehammer fell without a shot being fired.

   Panic and the fog of war can sometimes lead to the tiniest of forces achieving the seemingly impossible, it’s a shame that seems to have been the case here.

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