Viral Images Show Starved Ukrainian Frontline Soldiers, 2 Commanders Sacked

Ukraine has removed two military commanders after disturbing photographs showing severely emaciated frontline soldiers surfaced online.

The images were shared by Anastasiia Silchuk, whose husband is among the troops deployed in the area. The pictures show four soldiers looking visibly weak with sunken faces, thin arms and prominent ribcages.

According to a report in The Guardian, the group was stationed for nearly eight months near Kupiansk, along the left bank of the Oskil River, where they were defending a narrow stretch of territory. It's been difficult to keep the position adequately supplied with essentials like food and medicines reportedly reaching them only through drone drops.

“When the lads arrived at the frontlines, they weighed over 80–90kg. But now they weigh around 50kg,” Silchuk wrote.

She said that after one supply run, no food reached them for 10 days and forced men to rely on rainwater and melted snow.

“The longest they went without food was 17 days. They weren't listened to on the radio, or perhaps no one wanted to listen to them. My husband shouted and begged, saying there was no food and water,” she added.

The daughter of a former soldier from the 2nd Mechanized Battalion of the 14th Mechanized Brigade, Ivanna Poberezhniuk, also shared the pictures on Threads and described similar conditions faced by soldiers.

“Fighters are losing consciousness from hunger,” she said and added that while her father had been evacuated, others were still stranded in the same conditions.

On April 23, Ukraine's defence ministry responded to the concerns on social media, saying the situation had been flagged to the brigade leadership and that efforts were underway to improve supply access and rotate troops despite operational challenges.

A day later, the General Staff announced that 14th Brigade commander Anatolii Lysetskyi had been replaced by Taras Maksimov, The Kyiv International reported.

The current commander of the 10th Corps, Serhii Perts, was relieved of his post and demoted. Artem Bohomolov will take over as the new commander of the corps, the report added.

Following Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the area between the two sides has turned into a heavily contested zone where both militaries increasingly depend on drones for surveillance as well as strikes.

Getting supplies to frontline positions has become a challenge as soldiers often have to walk 10-15km to reach their posts, as per The Guardian.