A Russian soldier has revealed the brutal conditions faced by his storm assault unit in Ukraine and the horrific casualties they have suffered. As the war grinds on and with no end in sight to the bitter fighting, Putin’s army continues to sustain heavy losses on the battlefields of Ukraine.
Kyiv claims that Russian forces have suffered over one million casualties since February 2022 – these include both dead and injured. The Kremlin has raided its own prisons in an attempt to boost the ranks of its frontline units and cover the losses. One such recruit is a young man from the Altai Krai, who signed a contract with the army to avoid serving an eight year prison sentence for an unspecified offence.
He is currently serving as a stormtrooper in an assault group and has been in Ukraine for around six months.
The stormtrooper said his unit had suffered horrific losses, citing one attack in which 95% of the soldiers were killed.
“Because the thing is, people die. For example, a hundred people went to another position to fight, but only five came out,” he said in a video he posted to social media.
He said that many of his comrades hit the bottle before going on a military mission to steel their nerves.
“Here, every second one drinks for courage before going on a mission,” he explained.
To make matters worse, the soldiers are under strict orders to shoot anyone trying to desert or be shot themselves as punishment. This makes it also impossible to build any proper friendships within the unit, with paranoia and distrust running rife.
“There’s nowhere to go: it’s either you or him being shot. Well, if you don’t reset him, you are reset yourself. That’s how it is.”
In August, Russia’s Investigative Committee accused soldiers from the 83 Guards Air Assault Brigade of shooting themselves, so they could fraudulently collect more than 200 million rubles (£1.8m) in state payments.
The scheme involved falsifying combat injuries to obtain not only monetary compensation but also service benefits and state awards.
The alleged scam involved 35 high-ranking and decorated officers as well as private soldiers.
