Putin’s soldiers do not go into battle as fearlessly as the Kremlin propaganda would have us believe. Reports of mutinous Russian warriors refusing to engage in battle are piling up. Kiev has now set up a Telegram channel called “I want to live”. Russians who do not want to fight can apply and then surrender. About 2,000 requests have already been received, as reported by the “Kyiv Independent”. But deserting is not so easy.
The Russians are already calling the front line “meat grinder”, as the Telegram station writes. Because despite promises from the Russian army command that even conscript reservists receive a good wage and first receive thorough combat training, the bitter truth at the front is of course very different. Recently, in Zoloty, not far from the Ukrainian border, reservists of the same military unit attacked each other. The men shot at each other and within minutes killed more than two dozen soldiers. They should have gone straight into battle with no training.
Such reports cannot be independently verified. However, based on consistent reports, a plan is emerging as to how the Russians are building their defenses. In the foreground – and thus closest to the advancing Ukrainians – are convicts. If these are not under enemy fire, they will surely die of their own accord if they try to flee.
“Otherwise they will be shot by their own people”
The front line is cannon fodder. The own people in the back rows have orders to shoot those who try to escape. This is from an intercepted phone call. Accordingly, the individual defense lines are manned differently – depending on rank and indispensability.
In the foreground are the convicts who have been recruited in recent months with promises of impunity and other privileges. “Behind that,” said one reservist in the intercepted call, “stand we, the mobilized reservists.” Only behind them are the regular professional troops.
According to the caller, this means: The reservists in the second row also have a duty to shoot fleeing convicts from the front row. And the reservists in the second row are also “guarded” by the third row of professional soldiers. “It’s impossible to escape,” said the caller. “Otherwise we will be shot by our own people.” (keep)