The soldiers had been ordered to the front line in Luhansk, Donbas, and then told to dig trenches, the Verstka news agency said in an unverified report. “We had three shovels per battalion and there were no provisions at all. We dug in as best we could and in the morning the artillery and helicopter bombardment began. They just shot at us,” said Agafonov, the alleged survivor of the unit. “When it all started, the cops just ran away.” Verstka reported that Agafonov said that out of a battalion of 570 men, most were killed.
