On camera, Serhiy Haidai seems serene, despite the features drawn by fatigue. The governor of the oblast (region) of Luhansk, withdrawn further west since the arrival of the Russians – who occupy almost the entire region – is on the alert as the strikes in the area. This is the start of a “large-scale offensive”, according to this senior official, at the head of the oblast since 2019. In an interview with L’Express, he details the possible attack scenarios, describes the daily life of the Ukrainian troops, that of the inhabitants and calls on Westerners to support them until the end. “Everyone has understood that time is on Russia’s side: the longer the war lasts, the better it will be,” he said.
L’Express: What is the situation in your region?
Serhiy Haidai : We are probably living the beginning of a major offensive. Russian occupying troops are more active. The number of attacks and bombings has increased, it happens all the time. The Russians massaged a lot of men.
What scenario do you envisage for the next few days?
The Russians are visibly concentrating on three main axes: the Kreminna axis, the Svatove-Kupiansk axis and the Belogorovka axis. This is where they will concentrate their attacks to try to break through the defense of the Ukrainian armed forces. We expect this intensification in the next 10 days.
War in Ukraine: the situation in the East
© / afp.com/
After a year, do you notice any enemy modus operandi changeswhether they concern tactics, artillery or lines of defence?
The main change since the beginning of the war is that the Russians have adopted our tactic of attacking in small mobile groups. About the artillery, it should be understood that they had reserves of practically unlimited ammunition, at least immense. The fact that they used them extremely intensively at the beginning of the war does not slow down their ability to constantly fire.
Western long-range equipment helps us a lot to defend our positions: they allow us to hit the enemy’s rear lines and destroy their ammunition warehouses. Finally, I wouldn’t say that the Russians built any particularly elaborate or powerful fortifications. On the other hand, they have mined immense amounts of territory, which is a real problem.
Ukrainian forces speak of 320,000 Russian troops massed in eastern Ukraine. Do you fear this massification?
Of course, many soldiers, even poorly prepared, are always dangerous. But our military command knows this and takes decisions to anticipate the actions of the Russian occupation army. We are ready for any number of men the Russians send us. Moreover, it is necessary to take into account the fact that even if they had mobilized a million men, to prepare so many soldiers, to train them, to equip them, is very complicated. For now, there is not a critical mass of enemy soldiers that would be able to defeat us.
Do you see the implementation of this Russian tactic of successive “waves” of soldiers sent to the front?
I confirm it, this is exactly their modus operandi.
Do you also confirm that the Russian army does not collect the bodies of its men killed in combat?
When they can, they collect them, but given the number of casualties in the Russian army, if they were to collect all the bodies, it would cause problems with the logistics of keeping them and storing them somewhere. Above all, this would oblige them to communicate on the real number of deaths and to pay compensation to the families.
How do you handle this problem?
In areas where fighting is active, no one recovers these bodies because it is too dangerous. In areas where our soldiers are advancing, we pick up Russian corpses and store them in refrigerated wagons, until a potential future exchange.
In what state are the Ukrainian forces today?
All units are highly motivated, whether army, national guard, police or border guards. Everyone is ready to fight until the end and we are waiting for the arrival of Western heavy equipment, which will allow us to reconquer our territory.
What will this new equipment change? And how to hold on before their arrival, in the spring?
How to hold? You will see it, we will show it to you every day. And until we receive this equipment, we will hold our positions. Once we have them, they will allow us to achieve breakthroughs and not only to push back the Russian troops, but also to break them up and move on to the de-occupation of our territories.
What strategy are the Ukrainians implementing to resist?
It’s a difficult question, because it’s a military secret, but I’ll answer you as soon as we win and liberate our territory!
Where are you currently?
It changes often. I regularly visit our humanitarian distribution points. I also have my office in Dnipro, to manage official business and ceremonies. I also often travel to the front lines, from Kharkiv to Dnipro, to meet with units, find out what they need and provide them with the necessary equipment, whether it is ammunition, thermal sights or other stuff.
What is daily life like in your area?
These are very complicated days. First of all, we have to check the work of all these “humanitarian HQs”, check that they have everything they need, that the hotlines work, and that they help the inhabitants of the Luhansk region, wherever they are in the country. It is also a daily job to continue to administer the region, to manage the budget, to ensure that education and public services are always guaranteed to the inhabitants of the Luhansk region in the territories controlled by Ukraine.
In addition, we communicate daily with the soldiers of all the armies in order to control the deliveries of armaments and equipment. It’s a job that you have to start over every day, because everything can change in a few hours, so you have to be very responsive to deal with their equipment requests. This can range from very simple things, like cast iron stoves for the trenches, to very technical means like drones or anti-drone equipment.
How do you see the continuation of the conflict? Is this war set to last?
Everyone has understood that time is on Russia’s side: the longer the war lasts, the better off she will be. The reserves of ammunition, equipment and men of the enemy are immense. I hope and believe that the fighting will end this year. But the next month and a half will be the hardest; we will have to defend ourselves against these masses of mobilized people who are going to attack us. Then the Western heavy equipment will come in and I think by late spring, or early summer, we can go on the counterattack.
In this perspective, the combat aircraft that President Zelensky requests from his partners would play a colossal role. To carry out a major offensive operation, tanks alone are not enough. Air support would greatly increase our chances of success. Ukraine must win, it’s everyone’s business. Because the Russians only stop when you stop them. They are already publicly announcing in their media that after Ukraine, they will go further and will only stop in Lisbon!
What message would you like to send to Westerners, leaders and peoples, who risk becoming “weary” of this war?
Already, I would like to thank them for the support that Europe has already given us and still gives us. Above all, I would like to say that before, we lived happily and peacefully. I have traveled a lot in Europe, my mother is Italian, I know what it is like to live in peace in Europe. And if the inhabitants of Europe do not want to share our misfortune, if they want to continue to live in peace on their continent, then we must continue to support us, because the price to be paid now is negligible compared to the risk of war.