Hero's welcome

Ukraine soldiers return home despite humiliating defeat

Evgeny Feldman

KIEV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian soldiers, thousands of them, were encircled for days by Russia-backed separatists who rained down death upon them. Mortars and missiles slammed into the troops’ redoubts atop a bluff near Debaltseve, a town with a population 25,000 before the war. Months of fighting decimated the place, reducing entire blocks to rubble and killing scores of civilians, not to mention dozens of government troops. In the end, with their “road of life” to provide them with reinforcements and supplies cut off, they were forced to withdraw, giving the separatists yet another symbolic victory in the 10-month-long conflict and granting them control of a strategic transport hub. The Ukrainian’s retreat was hasty, humiliating and deadly. Those who made it out in one piece boarded a high-speed train to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. There, at the city’s central train station, family, friends and supporters gave them a hero’s welcome.Novaya Gazetta photographer Evgeny Feldman captured their emotional arrival late on the evening of Feb. 19.

At least 13 troops were killed and 110 Ukrainian troops were taken prisoner during the pullout, according to Vladislav Selezniov, acting official representative of the Ukrainian General Staff. He said 31 soldiers who fled Debaltseve are still missing. Soldiers' stories indicate those numbers could be much higher.Before arriving in Kiev, the men who escaped the front lines caught their breath in nearby Kiev-controlled Artemivsk, where they warmed themselves and healed their wounds.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

When the soldiers arrived in Kiev, they were met with crowds waving the Ukrainian blue-and-yellow and singing the national anthem, "Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished." 

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable