By Nataliya Vasilyeva, Russia Correspondent, in Istanbul for The Telegraph - 10.03.23.
Russians sent to fight on the front lines are mutinying, fighting amongst themselves, getting locked in basements and lost in the chaos of a faltering offensive, a flurry of videos and messages from inside Vladimir Putin’s army show.
Recently mobilised soldiers are refusing orders to face “certain death” by joining “human wave” attacks that they say are destroying entire units at a time.
Some are appealing directly to Putin in desperate videos, while others are standing up to Kremlin officials sent to quell the rebellion.
Reports are emerging of fighters being locked underground for declining to become targets in the “shooting range” that has become the front line.
Meanwhile the Russian army has been forced to create a new unit to round up all the “lost” soldiers deserting, fleeing or struggling to find their teams.
Soldiers from at least 16 different regions recorded video messages since early February to blame commanders for trying to use them in “human wave” attacks, according to a tally by Russian media outlet Verstka.
The Russian tactic of sending “human waves” of poorly trained and poorly armed fighters into the line of fire to overwhelm the opposition has become increasingly common, according to military observers.
The appeals come as the Ukrainian forces are reporting staggering Russian losses - between 590 to over 1,000 men a day. Russia’s long-awaited offensive is largely considered to have stalled amid a gruelling battle to take the small city of Bakhmut.
One of the most striking recent calls for help from soldiers came from a group of men who were called up from eastern Siberia’s Irkutsk region.
The man said he and his comrades were sent to the occupied Donetsk region, ostensibly to be a patrol force only to find out they were to join a now notorious human wave attack outside the town of Avdiivka that have been overwhelming the Ukrainian army.
“We’re just sent in for slaughter. The commanders are telling us in the face we’re disposable soldiers and our only chance to go back home is to get injured in fighting,” the soldier said.
“The commanders don’t care about our lives. We’re asking for help. We have no one else to turn to.”
The article ends with these words:
“There might be a certain grudge that DNR people were used as cannon fodder for eight years and later forced into a peace treaty - now the Russians disappointed the separatists who for eight years were hoping (Russia) would grind the Ukrainian army into dust.”
The men’s complaints echo with the UK Ministry of Defence’s report earlier this week that suggested a lack of supplies as it said mobilised reservists were sent into fight with firearms and shovels.
Officials from the men’s native regions have been trying to play down the protests, often by distributing the men to different units or sending them to the rear.
So far, however desperate the pleas are, Russia has yet to see a genuine wave of defection that would have an impact on its defence capabilities.
“Such stark appeals are still quite rare,” Mr Leviev said.
“The frequency and volume of those complaints are still not enough to get the Russian commanders to give up the tactic of human wave attacks.”
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Russian soldiers are refusing orders from their commanders. Credit: AP
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