Chief of General Staff sparks outrage with remark Shyrokyne has ‘no military value’

Army
chief Viktor Muzhenko made the comments in an
interview with the news portal ZN.UA on Aug. 30, saying the “(separatists’) winter
offensive on this village was more a PR stunt than a military operation” and
while Shyrokyne was known the whole world over, the besieged town “has no
military value whatsoever.”

Muzhenko’s comments ignited a flurry
of angry condemnations from activists and soldiers with experience in the
war-torn village, which saw Ukraine’s volunteer battalions withdrawn in late
July despite major protests against the move.

Maria Podybailo, the coordinator of
the New Mariupol group, which has fought to keep Ukrainian defenses surrounding
Mariupol despite demilitarization attempts, said she and other activists near
Shyrokyne “categorically disagree” with Muzhenko’s statement.

“Neither I, nor my fellow activists,
nor soldiers nor those who are risking their lives to defend this area agree
with what Myzhenko has said,” she told the Kyiv Post.

“Shyrokyne provides strategic
heights. Having been forced to live in this area during nearly two years of
conflict, we’ve already become experts on this, and the number one rule is to
never give up strategic heights, especially when it’s your flank. Because it
would give them a direct path to Mariupol and further on to Crimea,” she said.

International monitors from the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had been pushing for the
village’s demilitarization for several months, saying it was key to saving the
fragile Minsk agreement reached in mid-February.

Many
residents of Mariupol, which had a pre-war population of 500,000, responded to
the decision with protests, arguing that the pullout would endanger their city.

Podybailo said that while recent days
had been more or less quiet near Mariupol, residents had repeatedly warned of
seeing a build-up of separatist forces and weaponry near the border – a sign
that many take to mean they haven’t given up on Mariupol.

“We’ve also gotten information from
people on the ground on why exactly the separatists were pushing so hard for
the demilitarization of Shyrokyne. Why did the Russian forces want this so
badly, to demilitarize precisely Shyrokyne, a village that is already in ruins
with no residents.

“Because this allows the separatists
to move their forces and their weaponry into an area that is more advantageous
to disrupt Ukraine’s line of defense. Between Volnovakha and Mariupol. In order
to spread out their forces, Shyrokyne is vital,” she said.

“Tons of mistakes have been made
under his command, all along the front line. Debaltseve, Ilovaisk, the Donetsk
Airport. As much as I know from soldiers, these defeats were his fault, because
he himself took command,”

“We’ve been saying from the very
beginning that if we allow for the demilitarization of Shyrokyne, it may lead
to another such mistake,” Podybailo.

Vladislav Seleznyov, a spokesman for
the General Staff, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Oleksiy Melnyk, a military expert at
the Razumkov Center, was equally skeptical of Muzhenko’s claim.

“Honestly speaking, I’ve long ago
stopped reading or commenting on the things our chief of the Army General Staff
says. The best thing he could do is let someone else do the talking from now
on,” Melnyk said.

“I won’t say whether he is right or
wrong about Shyrokyne, but he lost the moral right to make such statements a
long time ago,” he said.

GorseFires Collectif, a group of anonymous
pro-Ukrainian activists with loved ones fighting in the east, slammed
Muzhenko’s comments on Twitter.

“If Poroshenko, Poltorak and Muzhenko (mess) it up and lose Mariupol (or
leave it open to siege) we will never forgive them. Ever,” the group wrote.

“Of course Shyrokyne matters – ALL the land east of
Mariupol matters. Who controls it controls the flank.”

Mikael Skillt of the Azov Battalion, which held
positions in Shyrokyne for months and lost several fighters in battles there,
responded to Muzhenko’s comments with disdain.

“It may not be
Debaltseve but for that area it’s important,” he said.

Staff writer
Allison Quinn can be reached at a.caseyquinn@gmail.com