Girkin: in 2014 pro-Russian separatists were fleeing from the Ukrainian army
During an interview with The Insider, former DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) militia leader Igor Girkin (Strelkov) said that militants from the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics fled from their positions in the occupied territories of the Donbas in the summer of 2014, when Petro Poroshenko became the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army.
According to Girkin, the separatists were retreating for the entirety of July, beginning with an exit from Sloviansk. They "sacrificed" their territory to save their units.
And the "Cossacks", who fought on the side of the separatists, simply fled from the battlefield.
"Let's say that the central section of the front between Donetsk and Lysychansk was held by Kozitsyn's Cossacks, and they simply fled without a single shot, having surrendered a number of important settlements. Horlivka was the only one defended; Bezler defended it, yes. There was nothing between Horlivka and Lysyhansk; there were no subunits. An attempt to send a newly formed company of the miners' division - 600 untrained and unskilled people - ended in Debaltseve, [and] ended such that the Cossacks fled and the company fled, too," the terrorist said.
At the same time, he emphasized that it was possible to confront the Ukrainian military “only in areas where it was possible to concentrate at least a couple of companies, somehow reinforced; and preferably an experienced company. "
"Fresh formations immediately suffered defeat and fled," added the Girkin.