1/ Mobilised Russian soldiers fighting near Bakhmut have recorded a video complaining about the brutal and incompetent behaviour of their commander. They reject orders to execute comrades refusing to fight and abandon the wounded, who they say are not being evacuated. ⬇️
2/ In a 4-minute video, a group of at least nine mobilised soldiers who say they are from the "76th Division" – probably the 76th Guards Air Assault Division, a nominally elite paratroop unit – denounce what they call the "criminal" orders of their commander, callsign 'Rostov'.
It's not clear when it was recorded, but it's fairly likely that it was made before the 76th Division was recently transferred from the Donetsk region to prop up the Russian defensive lines in the Zaporizhzhia region.
3/ In the video, the spokesman for the group says: "We are tired of being silent about this. Tired of enduring it. Tired of losing our comrades. We are a reconnaissance division [sic, probably the 175th Reconnaissance Battalion]. We are from the 76th Division. For six months we have fought on the Bakhmut direction, without rest, without leave, without replenishment, without trained personnel."
4/ The man says that his unit is "taking heavy casualties, 200s [killed], 300s [wounded] ... because of the thoughtless actions of our command. Our command makes them drop, doesn't let them pull out. Corpses are lying on the zero [front] line. The boys are bleeding, they are not evacuated at ground zero."
5/ "In the area of contact with the enemy, there are criminal orders to chase the remnants of people forward to their positions on pain of death, to threaten them with weapons and reprisals. We are not war criminals, we are not going to wipe out our comrades or make them 300s."
6/ The man vows that "I'm not going to follow criminal orders." He condemns his commanders for sending men into battle "with no [artillery] support, no assistance, no infantry support, no provisions going forward in the field."
7/ He says that commanders have no communication with their units and lack information about the situation in the area and the location of the units, which results in loss of life.
"They do not know what is happening in their direction, in their area of responsibility ... There is no communication with the units that are there. Our artillery is sometimes aimed at our positions while Russian soldiers are sitting there."
8/ If the soldiers refuse to follow orders, the man says, they are threatened with being shot, executed, thrown in a pit or struck with artillery fired from their own side. They are appealing to senior commanders to suspend 'Rostov' and review the legality of his actions. /end
A little too late to claim that when you're cowering in an #orc-built trench on #Ukrainian soil trying to kill #Ukrainians defending their country... ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Add comment