Could be as simple as Putin wouldn’t hesitate to use their family and friends as leverage.
Good point.
According to this article, Patriot training normally takes a year and is being accelerated to 6 months for Ukraine. That’s a long time to have boots on the ground and a recipe for getting directly pulled into the conflict.
In-country, Putin controls the security the oligarchs are allowed to hire. He is very aware of the need to block any power center from accumulating outside his influence.
A video showing Russian cruelty to their own soldiers.
Here is a 2-minute video clip that has been posted on a couple of Reddit forums. It appears to be legit.
The video shows a Russian officer, severely beating a group of soldiers. He is backed by a couple of his own staff–professional soldiers, who point their rifles and threaten to kill 10 other Russian soldiers (draftees, apparently from a different platoon and newly arrived at the front lines).
The officer severely beats all 10 soldiers with an iron bar. The reason: they evacuated some wounded buddies back to the base, (and thus abandoned their position on the front lines).
I’m posting the link because I think it’s relevant to this thread, although I can’t prove its legitimacy, and I don’t know when or where it was filmed.
But it shows an apparently true glimpse of how the Russian army functions. It gives a very graphic, and gut-punch significance to a phrase which we westerners (well, me at least) read casually, without fully understanding the reason for it: “low morale among Russian soldiers”
the same video is posted on another reddit forum, where the comments seem to provide more context and information.https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/zvjx1j/commander_beats_russian_mobilized_soldiers_for/
Officers like that can suffer unfortunate accidents during battle.
And IMO should. Someone like that has no business having any authority.
I did like the remark about “grenade enema”.
Recent footage of the latest column of Russian volunteers advancing towards Bakhmut
You never want to make the conditions of your front line troops less pleasant than the conditions in the enemy’s POW camps. Especially not when your troops are there less-than-voluntarily to begin with.
One of the smart things Zelensky did back in September was publicly promise humane treatment to Russian POW’s
“Ukraine guarantees every Russian soldier who surrenders three things. First, you will be treated in a civilized manner, in accordance with all conventions. Second, no one will know the circumstances of your surrender, no one in Russia will know that your surrender was voluntary. And third, if you are afraid to return to Russia and do not want an exchange, we will find a way to ensure this as well,”
Here’s another video of a column of Russian soldiers advancing on Bakhmut. Spoilered for death in a big explosion - nothing gory.
The hit was accomplished using the Ukraine-built Stugna missile system, which is usually seen in an anti-tank role, destroying Russian tanks and AFVs, but it can also fire high-explosive missiles. Unusually, the language on the weapon system’s screen is in English. It’s more usually seen in Arabic script, as the missile systems were intended to be export models for a Middle Eastern country, but were kept by Ukraine following the invasion. They have been a great success, with many videos showcasing their work.
That’s a pretty slick system. I’m used to reading/hearing about the Stuhna as an anti-armor weapon. First time I’ve seen it used as an anti-personnel weapon. FWIW Ukraine for many years was a major player in the weapons export business, so they’ve got a fairly robust indigenous arms industry. It’s rewarding to see them invent and adapt new weapons all the time for use against Russia. Quite resourceful.
The Russian situation is very bad. The soldiers would have to deal with the monster officer and his Wagoner thugs.
The Marine Corp takes no man left behind very seriously. It’s crucial for troop morale.
I had to look it up on a map. It’s a important step towards what’s left of Sievierodonetsk.
… falling out of foxhole windows …
From the Guardian article:
Also on Tuesday, Putin concluded his two-day “informal summit” in St Petersburg with the heads of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a Moscow-led group consisting of former Soviet states, by gifting the eight leaders present gold rings.
It’s supposed to be nine rings, Vlad. No wonder things aren’t going well for the Russian military, if they get such obvious force-enhancers wrong.
I’d check the rings for polonium, novacek, ricin, or a small recording device.
I’m guessing he kept the One Ring To Bind Them All for himself. And can we call these leaders The Nazgul now?
“Nine for mortal men, doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne”
The One is probably the Super-bowl ring that he stole.