Russia's deserter problems: Now Putin's "bloodhound" squad is supposed to ensure order in Cherson
Created: 08/18/2022 05:17
Soldiers of the Chechen special police regiment named after Akhmad Kadyrov in the city of Lysychansk in July.
Now the Chechen units are apparently increasingly being relocated to Cherson (archive image, July 2022).
© IMAGO/Viktor Antonyuk / SNA
Russia may have a problem with deserters.
Chechen units are now supposed to ensure order in the Cherson region and prevent Russian soldiers from deserting.
Cherson - The focal points of the fighting in the Ukraine war are currently in the Donbass and in the south in the Cherson and Zaporizhia regions.
Moscow is apparently moving Chechen units to the Cherson Oblast to prevent Russian troops from deserting.
This emerges from a report by the war researchers of the US think tank "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW).
The units under Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya in the North Caucasus, are considered particularly brutal.
Ukraine-News: Russia apparently transfers dreaded "bloodhounds" to Cherson
Ukraine recently announced a counter-offensive in the southern Kherson region.
The Kremlin is apparently taking this very seriously and is increasingly moving Russian troops to the south.
For the first time since the beginning of the war, Ukraine held the strategic initiative, the ISW war researchers recently determined.
Russia is therefore forced to react and redistribute forces.
Apparently, however, Russia has a problem preventing its own troops from withdrawing, a corresponding report by the ISW emphasized.
Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesman for the military administration of the Mykolaiv Oblast, said that the Russian armed forces were increasingly moving Chechen units to the Kherson Oblast in order to prevent Russian troops from deserting.
Pletenchuk's statement could not be independently verified.
However, the war researchers of the ISW found that the information corresponds to earlier reports by Ukrainian intelligence services.
Moscow is said to station the Russian National Guard and Chechen units on the left bank of the Dnipro River to prevent Russian troops from retreating from the northern part of Kherson Oblast.
Since the start of the Ukraine war, there has been repeated talk of a lack of morale among Russian soldiers.
However, it is unclear to what extent this is Western wishful thinking or whether individual testimonials from ex-soldiers actually reflect the majority opinion in the Russian troops.
In addition to the deserters, Russia is said to have problems finding reservists and volunteers for its war.
And that even for very respected military units or for positions that are not directly at the front, as the "Institute of the Study of War" further announced.
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Ukraine News: Putin's "bloodhound" Kadyrov confirms sending more troops to Ukraine
Kremlin ally Ramzan Kadyrov is also known as Vladimir Putin's "bloodhound".
Ukraine repeatedly accuses the Chechen units of particular brutality.
Kadyrov confirmed last weekend that he had sent new troops with "volunteers" to the fight in Ukraine, as reported by the
German Press Agency
.
In a video supposedly showing units at the airport in the Chechen capital Grozny, the uniformed men were sworn to "annihilate" Ukrainian nationalists.
These recordings could not be checked independently - but they agree with the ISW report.
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After the war of aggression began on February 24, Russia was able to bring the Cherson region under its control within a few days.
Now Ukraine is trying to recapture towns.
The seaport city of Kherson lies north of the Crimean peninsula and the attacks on Russian positions on and around the peninsula appear to be part of the Ukrainian counter-offensive to regain control of the west bank of the Dnipro River, ISW experts analyzed.
In Crimea, annexed by Russia, there were two explosions within a week.
Russia spoke of an act of sabotage, and Kyiv initially took no responsibility.
However , the
New York Times
, citing a military source, said Ukrainian forces were behind the attacks.
If this proves true, it would be a significant military success for Ukraine
(dpa/bme).