Russian Soldiers Getting Desperate & Struggling from Ukraine’s Counter Attack Causing Self-inflicted wounds & Starving in the Frontline
Many Russian soldiers don’t know where they are or what they need to do. They are in a desperate situation.
Itsuro Nakamura, a professor at Tsukuba University and an expert on the situation in Russia, said, “The Russian government has been working hard to ensure the safety and security of its citizens.
It has been more than a month since the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian military is struggling mightily. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, at one point they were within 20 km of the capital, Kiev, but were pushed back to 55 km by a counterattack by Ukrainian forces. The ministry analyzed the damage to Russian forces and estimated that casualties could be up to 28,000. This is about twice the number of troops lost by NATO countries in the Afghanistan conflict that took place between 2001 and 2009.
There seems to be a growing sense of disenchantment within the Russian military. President Putin thought he could overrun Kiev in two or three days, but the war has become a quagmire, and there is no indication that it will end. Some of the soldiers who participated in the war, despite being told that they were participating in military training, have witnessed the reality of the tragic war and have become mentally disturbed.
The soldiers may really want to return to their homeland as soon as possible, but if they desert, they may be imprisoned for up to eight years. Ukrainian security officials have intercepted and released communications from the Russian soldiers. Soldiers have said that they are [My comrades] are shooting themselves in the leg with their guns so that their superiors will not find out. They want to be bandaged up and sent back to a hospital in their homeland.
Unexpected Purpose of Kidnapping Ukrainians
On March 22, the U.S. media outlet CNN reported the following story told by a senior official in the country.
The morale of the Russian military is at a serious level. Many soldiers are suffering from frostbite because they do not have sufficient cold-weather equipment. This has become a major problem.
Control of the military is also in shreds. According to Ukrainian authorities, nearly 5,000 civilians were forcibly taken away. Some of them are public figures, including governors and mayors. Behind the situation lies the “dire realities of the Russian military,” according to the aforementioned Professor Nakamura.
Soldiers in the field do not receive enough compensation or food. It is commonplace to find that when food finally arrives, it has expired a year before its expiration date. They have no choice but to sell weapons and other supplies to make ends meet.
The successive abductions of Ukrainians are probably the work of soldiers who are starving and have lost control. By kidnapping civilians, they are supposedly demanding ransom from their families. It is probably a runaway attack for money. The Russian military today is like a mafia group with no discipline.
The nature of the Russian military, shaped by President Vladimir Putin, is also a factor. Professor Nakamura continues.
In terms of hardware, we have state-of-the-art weapons, such as tanks and fighter jets. However, they have neglected the software side, such as communications and networks. As a result, radios are outdated and of little use. Soldiers in the field are not informed of their location, let alone the details of the operation.
They use their smartphones and cell phones as their means of communication. Since the smartphones have GPS functions, it is easy for the enemy to find out where they are. The damage has increased as the Ukrainian military has attacked them one after another with pinpoint accuracy. Much of our conversations are being intercepted.”
The Russian military is no longer a viable organization. Before it can fight the Ukrainian army, it seems to be collapsing from within.
Photo.: Reuters/Afro Ukraine Navy/EyePress News/REX/Afro