Called “meat” and human shields, only a few days of training… Russian soldiers “terminally ill”. | FRIDAY DIGITAL

Called “meat” and human shields, only a few days of training… Russian soldiers “terminally ill”.

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A Russian soldier complaining of the devastation after being detained by Ukrainian forces (Image, AP/Afro)

I will shoot you all and bury you in a hole. We will tell your relatives that you are missing.”

The independent Russian media outlet Astra reported on November 5 that soldiers called up by President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization order were being threatened by their superiors in this way. According to Astra, many of the mobilized soldiers refused to participate in the battle. Some of them even fled. When their superiors failed to persuade them, some 80 soldiers were taken naked to a basement room and given no food.

The horrific conditions of the Russian soldiers are being revealed one after another.

According to the independent Russian media outlet Meduza, mobilized soldiers with poor combat skills are called “meat” and placed on the front lines with the Ukrainian army. They are being used as ‘human shields. They are provided with old guns from the 1970s, which are rusted and useless.

On the Russian SNS “Telegram,” many images of bulletproof vests with holes and battered guns provided to mobilized soldiers have been uploaded. Some of the soldiers were ordered by their superiors to procure their own weapons and hemostats on the day they received their call to arms,” said a reporter from the international section of a national newspaper.

60% of those killed in the war were killed by friendly fire.

Although mobilized soldiers were initially promised a three-month training period, this was never fulfilled. In some cases, they were deployed to the front lines after only a few days of training.

Many of the mobilized soldiers are deployed in the hardest-hit areas of eastern Ukraine,” he said. They lie on the ground in extremely cold steppes with temperatures below zero degrees Celsius and are unable to get a good night’s sleep. They have to face the Ukrainian army, which is armed with the latest weapons supplied by Europe and the United States, as little as rifles and knives.

According to independent Russian media, one battalion of about 570 mobilized soldiers sent to the eastern Luhanshik region has been almost completely wiped out. This is a nod to the large number of soldiers who have fled the country. There is an even more serious problem. According to the U.S. television station CBS News, 60% of the damage to the Russian army was caused by friendly fire.

In World War II and the Vietnam War, the percentage of U.S. military deaths due to friendly fire was about 14%. The percentage for the Russian army is unusually high.

The Russian military’s chain of command is also in shreds because of the sheer chaos on the front lines. According to the British Defense Ministry, Commander Lapin of the Russian Armed Forces Central Military District was dismissed by President Putin. Major General Lynkov was hastily appointed as acting commander. Due to the spread of the damage, there are not enough regular commanders on the front lines. It is said that the mobilized soldiers are being commanded by sergeants at the rank of sergeant.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the death toll from the war is estimated at about 6,000, with more than 90,000 people seriously injured or otherwise unable to fight. Itsuro Nakamura, a professor emeritus at Tsukuba University and an expert on the situation in Russia, says, “The number of people who have died in the war is estimated to be about 6,000.

There have been many cases of people who are rebellious against the government and people who are seriously ill being called up to fight. The shortage of soldiers in the Russian army is so serious that they have to be recruited. There is no leadership at all.”

It seems that the Russian military no longer has the strength to compete with Ukraine, which receives support from Western countries.

  • Photo AP/Afro

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