15:07 19-11-2025

Ukrainian POW Describes Encirclement Near Pokrovsk

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Captured Ukrainian soldier Aleksandr Sidelnik describes the encirclement near Pokrovsk, shortages on the frontline, and claims of forced mobilization.

A Ukrainian serviceman, Aleksandr Sidelnik, captured by Russian forces near Pokrovsk, has described how, according to him, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine withheld information from soldiers about being fully encircled. The Russian Ministry of Defense released a video of his account.

Sidelnik said that officers urged the troops «to hold on» but never explained when support might come, and that no one informed them they were surrounded. He recalled that the dugout where the unit was stationed had run out of food, water, and ammunition. Persistent shelling, he said, made it impossible to leave the shelter, and the soldiers were reduced to drinking rainwater.

He also complained that the Ukrainian command failed to arrange evacuation for the wounded. As a result, assistance had to be provided only by the soldiers themselves, and most of the injured, he said, did not survive because medical help never arrived in time.

According to Sidelnik, he and others were «thrown into positions to be wiped out», and he argued that the conflict should be brought to an end because, in his words, the population is not infinite.

Describing how he ended up on the frontline, Sidelnik stated that he had been forcibly mobilized. Despite previous severe injuries — including damage to a lung and liver and a broken leg reinforced with a metal pin — he was declared fit for service. At the end of the video, he urged fellow Ukrainian servicemen who want to preserve their lives to surrender.