As of: February 13, 2024, 12:16 p.m
By: Karsten Hinzmann
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Russians feel inhumanely treated, and Ukraine calls its army chief a "butcher" - warriors beg for compassion in a new video.
Novomykhailivka – “Our command treats us like meat,” says the unknown soldier in the translation that appears.
In a video on
t-online,
the Russian complains about the untenable conditions that Vladimir Putin is subjecting his invading troops to in the Ukraine war.
This is a cry for help, explains the off-screen speaker's voice.
Russia is systematically burning its soldiers, an unspoken claim that resonates in the background.
In the video, 21 soldiers from the 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces denounce the decisions of their commanders - they were driven into suicidal missions.
Because the men fear for their lives, they barricade themselves in a basement somewhere in Ukraine - and now hope for help.
The video is the latest of many that accompany everyday war life that has now lasted two years.
The sources are largely unknown, the supposed facts unchecked, and the protagonists are rarely mentioned by name.
These videos are part of warfare, and the propagandists in uniform on both sides are doing as much a part in their troops' victory as their fighting comrades in the trenches.
The suffering of people fighting against each other and the images that flood into the West are sometimes two different things - and must necessarily be seen separately.
Complain about many suicide missions: Russia's soldiers are losing faith in their military leadership;
In any case, supposed video evidence always appears.
© IMAGO/Bulkin Sergey
Without a doubt: This war makes it easy for observers to tend to follow the portrayal of Ukraine - a fact that is quickly pushed into the background by the supposedly objective reporting.
The Ukrainians are fighting for the survival of their country against an all-powerful juggernaut that threatens to devour Ukraine meter by meter with great brutality.
In such a David versus Goliath conflict, observers tend to take the weaker side.
The Russian side is also losing its credibility by demonstrably lying - for example, when it claims that it does not attack civilians or when it states that it wants to “denazify” Ukraine as a reason for war.
Soldiers complain in the video: “They don’t see us as people.”
The video is intended to be an appeal to the military leadership in Russia - or rather to clearly classify the Russian leadership as inhumane.
“They don’t see us as people.
They set up blockade units and snipers who moved against us.
We want to launch a mass appeal to all units to finally stop this,” says the group’s spokesman.
The first victim of aggressive war is always the truth - this sentence has been true since ancient times.
On the online magazine
Puls 24,
the Austrian journalist Ingrid Brodnig, on the other hand, promotes a broad perspective and skepticism towards supposed videos from war zones.
She cites emotional or spectacular content of shared videos as clear warning signals.
“The more spectacular a recording is, the more careful you should be,” warned Brodning.
No picture, no video, no message comes into circulation by chance.
The soldiers in the latest video report operations that resemble a suicide mission.
They were sent into battle without sufficient equipment, weapons and ammunition.
“No evacuation was carried out for the wounded.
Some were able to escape in different but always adventurous ways.
Those who returned were sent back into battle armed with knives.
Without firearms.
Our command says we are meat,” the Russian soldier repeats.
The crisis in Vladimir Putin's army is as old as war itself.
At the end of last year, Russian deserters killed their commander and fled Crimea: several soldiers from the 20th Motorized Rifle Division, which belongs to the 8th Army in southern Russia, are said to have deserted and injured their deputy regimental commander so badly that he... died shortly afterwards.
This was reported by several independent media outlets, citing Ukrainian intelligence, without providing further details.
The 20th Motorized Rifle Division was stationed in occupied Crimea at the time - the treatment of ordinary soldiers undoubtedly runs through the entire invading army.
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Everyday life of soldiers: Extreme harassment of younger soldiers by older soldiers
Christian Göbel, lieutenant colonel in the reserve at the
Center for Military History and Social Sciences in Potsdam
, asked
in the Bundeswehr podcast
: “Unfortunately, in Russia, for example, there is still the so-called “Dedowtschina” (“rule of the grandfathers”), which describes the extreme harassment of younger by older soldiers;
Officers also mistreat subordinates, there is the violent regime in general and soldiers mistreat each other;
Cadaver obedience should be beaten in.”
Andreas Rüesch points out the human image of the Russian military leadership in the
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
: “Russia treats its troops like dirt – as soldiers who are expendable goods.” This in turn gives the defenders an enormous psychological boost, explains Reisner: “It is the troops that motivate them President Volodymyr Zelensky has an advantage, as the course of the war has shown.
After all, the men and women in the Ukrainian army defend their homes and the lives of their families - they know exactly what they are fighting for.
Experts are unanimously certain that Russia’s soldiers on the front line have little use for Vladimir Putin’s war aims.”
Reality in Russia: Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime is still unshakable
Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime appears unshakable so far, and his people appear to support him.
Despite all the good will, the counteroffensive has so far been a flop.
Therefore, the exodus of our own armed forces poses a challenge.
Russia as well as Ukraine are fighting to define the term freedom as a motivation for killing and dying - both the dictator and the Ukrainian side each define it individually - but always with the justification of fighting for freedom for their people.
Videos are the method of choice, and social media are willing technical accomplices to make an opinion - the voice of the unknown warrior - supposedly - from the town of Novomykhailivka definitely generates sympathy;
whether the video should be staged or real.
What counts in war, despite all the technology, is the appreciation of the individual, which Russian military doctrine completely ignores;
as the political scientist Herfried Münkler summarizes
the book
Soldiers by the military historian Sönke Neitzel in the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
: “It is not political ideologies, but small group experiences that are decisive for the combat effectiveness of soldiers, their willingness to kill and their ability to persevere.
In addition to trust in the competence of the officers, it is above all the experience of camaraderie that holds a force together and allows it to continue fighting even when the political-military situation has become hopeless.”
The new Ukrainian army chief: the "general they call 'butcher'"
However, even a more humane approach to each other could hardly disguise the fact that the military system is structurally inhumane because it is designed to be able to immediately replace the individual soldier with another - ultimately until at least one remains left after the battle.
Who that is is irrelevant.
In fact, the American soldier in World War II had little value, at least linguistically, other than his physical presence.
The common abbreviation “GI” was simply the short form for “Government Issue”, i.e. the name for a tiny cog in the power apparatus.
A wearing part, so to speak.
Perhaps the complaining Russian soldiers could actually endure the constant fire and mortal danger of the counteroffensive better if at least the leadership was worth doing.
But in order to allow freedom to flourish, the Russians in particular use coercion - against the outside world and internally through their superiors.
Freedom is a double-edged sword in the service of propaganda.
Most of the time someone only gets it by disputing it from someone else.
The previous Ukrainian army chief, Valeriy Zalushnyj, had probably overextended his freedom of action and probably lacked toughness in directing the battle;
In any case, he had missed the desired goals of the ground offensive.
In any case, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has now replaced his top soldier.
At the same time, the president called for new rigor in the mobilization and recruitment of soldiers.
Oleksandr Syrsky is the new commander in chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
It's supposed to bring Russia to its knees.
“Many consider him to be ruthless and say: He puts soldiers through the meat grinder,” reports Spiegel
and
calls him that
"General they call 'Butcher'".
(Karsten Hinzmann)