Ukraine war: Russia's soldiers destroy vehicles "so as not to have to go to the front"
Created: 05/11/2022 13:41
By: Jan-Frederik Wendt
Reports of poor morale among Russian soldiers in the Ukraine war are piling up.
In the latest case, armed forces are supposed to shoot up their vehicles.
Kyiv - The morale of troops from Russia appears to have continued to deteriorate in the Ukraine conflict.
Only recently have there been reports of Russian soldiers fighting each other.
Now the latest US Department of Defense press briefing on the situation in Ukraine is causing a stir: a Pentagon expert stated that Russian soldiers are disobeying the orders of their commanders.
This also affects middle parts of the military hierarchy - sometimes even battalion commanders, it said.
The US think tank "Institute for the Study of War" addresses the eyewitness reports more specifically.
Morale is low, especially among units around the Ukrainian city of Zaporzhia.
The soldiers from Russia are frustrated.
The reason: the inefficiency of the "special operation", as Vladimir Putin put it, in the Ukraine war.
The troops regularly get drunk, they say.
And: "The Russian soldiers shoot at their own vehicles so as not to have to go to the front".
20 transport vehicles are said to have already been destroyed.
Ukraine war: troops from Russia are supposed to destroy their own vehicles (symbolic photo).
© dpa
Meanwhile, Russia's army isn't just fighting with poor morale.
The Ukrainian secret service recently published a statement according to which poorly trained and poorly equipped conscripts were being sent to the Ukraine war.
Ukraine war: Russian troop morale probably not the only problem
In addition, many Russian battalions were severely depleted in terms of personnel.
The ISW experts report that troops from Ukraine keep returning to Russia to compensate for the losses there.
The result is thrown together units.
These are not or only insufficiently prepared for the joint fight - probably to the annoyance of Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
The US Department of Defense currently sees no evidence of a new major mobilization of the Russian armed forces.
The Pentagon currently puts the number of Russian battalions in eastern Ukraine at 97.
Due to the strong division of the troops, however, the sheer number of battalions is deceptive, according to the "ISW" analysts.
(Jan Wendt)
People are not only dying on the battlefields of the Ukraine war.
Since the beginning of the war, mysterious deaths of Russian oligarchs and top managers have increased.
Recent case: Alexander Subbotin.
