Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russian warbloggers say that Russian soldiers are taking huge casualties trying to capture the strategically unimportant Ukrainian village of Novoiehorivka, because commanders have prematurely and falsely claimed that they have already captured it. ⬇️

2/ Novoiehorivka in the Luhansk region is a tiny front-line hamlet with a handful of houses strung along a dead-end road. It has no apparent strategic importance. On 20 January, the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed to have 'liberated' it.

https://x.com/tass_agency/status/1884271398241161395

3/ This, it turns out, was false. Commanders had ordered their men to film a video report showing the village's capture, presumably so that they could send it to their superiors to keep in good favour. However, it was premature, as the village is still in Ukrainian hands.

4/ A Russian soldier captured by the Ukrainians says that many men were killed trying to film the Russian flag being raised for the video report.

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1885729879229944048

5/ This sort of false reporting has been a consistent theme throughout the Ukraine war. Russian commanders have frequently lied to their superiors, submitting staged photographs and videos as evidence of successes and completion of orders.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1570169288849326082

6/ However, it has had disastrous effects for the troops on the ground, who have often had to fight on without artillery or air support because the target has officially been 'captured'. Russian troops are reportedly being killed in large numbers in Novoiehorivka because of this.

7/ The Russian 'Bounty Hunters' Telegram channel writes:

"Another news about "meat assaults" causes bewilderment, resentment and pain for the guys, friends, brothers, sons who died for nothing."

8/ "And all just to take a settlement or a stronghold, which on paper and in reports to Moscow is already ours. And how does this happen? It's as simple as ever:

9/ "The boys lie down to carry out orders, advance without proper artillery preparation [or] planning, because they need to take it quickly and secretly, to put the flag where they have already reported, so that [the commander] doesn't 'get into trouble'."

10/ The channel quotes a souce who is engaged in the battle:

11/ "You go to a regular assault [where the orders are] "take a strongpoint, where the sky is not under our control", and at the starting point when entering the assault, the task changes abruptly and you run 300-500 meters across a field,…

12/ …the sky of which is occupied by enemy FPVs, Mavics with bombs, or a Baba Yaga [heavy drone] on duty, well, and if you are lucky enough to run and you are 300 [wound], then suddenly this "doesn't count", because there was no firefight,…

13/ … or direct contact with the enemy and do not count on payments, it's good if they let you recover at all before the next such assault, because there are no rotations, they stupidly finish off the battalion, which was confirmed by the division commander…

14/ …with the words "I will finish off your battalion root and branch", obviously so that there is no one to complain to.

15/ "Yes, and if you are heavy and both legs are broken by Yaga, then it is a miracle if the medics pull you out, because there are only 4 people in the evacuation group and 2 of them were taken to the positions.

16/ "So what kind of holding of positions can we talk about? No artillery preparation before the assault, no entrenchment to fight from.

17/ "We are simply dying for someone's "nice report" at the top, when with proper preparation the point could have been taken without so many victims. So who needs such reports? The fifth column? Those who need stars and a full pocket, but not our victory."

18/ 'Yuriy Podolyak' says on his Telegram channel that the village's capture was announced by the Russian MOD even before it had been assaulted, giving the Ukrainians time to reinforce the defences there.

19/ On 22 January, he wrote: "Meanwhile, as the guys from the field told me, as of yesterday morning the village had not even begun to be stormed.

The assault began yesterday in the afternoon (after the problem was made public). Naturally, the enemy was waiting for our guys."

20/ "Since the actual declaration of the village under the control of the Russian Armed Forces left our command no options for manoeuvre.

21/ "And this is not the first such case in that area. The settlement of Nadiia (a little to the north) was taken under control post factum ... only 3 days after the official announcement!!!

22/ "Actually, this is the main problem with "beautiful reports" - they ALWAYS LEAD TO ADDITIONAL LOSSES.

So, Novoiehorivka has not been liberated yet.

23/ "And our command in the area is bending over backwards to cover up this "screw-up" of theirs (until the commission [of investigation] arrives).

And they will sacrifice as many people as necessary for this.

24/ "So that they can post a video with a flag in the near future and thus "prove" that they are not deceiving anyone."

25/ According to Poldolyak, the local commanders decided to fake the capture of the village in a subsequent video filmed in a different location, before attempting to drop a Russian flag from a drone on the roof of a house in the village.

26/ However, he writes, "The drone did not fly [i.e. it crashed] and the video needed for the [20th Army] command was not filmed. The enemy received the Russian flag as a trophy."

27/ Waves of Russians have since been sent into bloody assaults. The battle appears to be following the pattern set in 2022 in the equally non-strategic village of Debaltseve, in which hundreds of Russians died to fulfil a false report of its capture.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1578535556061233152

28/ 'Two Majors' reports on messages sent to the channel's authors from the battle for Novoiehorivka:

🖋 "I called in the morning, they were driving me head-on to Novoiehorivka with assault rifles."

29/ 🖋 "[ call sign ] had 30 men left from the company as of yesterday. This is [number ] regiment of the 3rd motorised rifle division. They don't even bring in ammunition. It's a total mess."

30/ 🖋 "The "black mamba" 252nd regiment of the 3rd motorised rifle division tells terrible things – they [ the losses ] killed people in a week in a stupid assault."

31/ Yuriy Podolyak publishes a video on his channel of a despairing or wounded Russian soldier from the 84th Reconnaissance Battalion shooting himself in a wooded area, presumably at Novoiehorivka.

"I don't see the point in hiding it," he writes.

32/ "I don't usually post such things. But this is a special case.

Let the 'responsible comrades' watch this footage. Maybe something will stir in them and they will stop covering up for the criminals."

33/ "By the way, I want to ask those who claim the opposite (that Novoiehorivka is ours). How did it happen that the village has been ours for 10 days, a scandal has been erupting over it for 8 days, and there is not a single real footage of our control from there?

34/ "Well, that's crazy.

I think all logically thinking people have already realized that this is not true. So why the..... (here is a swear word) are the guys from the 84th reconnaissance battalion dying and shooting themselves?

35/ "How many more guys must die for this MADNESS to stop?

After all, even the dumbest person understands that "the issue will not resolve itself." That there has already been a public outcry. That society has realized that it is being deceived and will demand justice.

36/ "That it is time to begin a real investigation of the situation and punish those responsible for it."

37/ 'Two Majors' echoes the call for action and says: "Either the respected comrades from the front, who consider certain actions of the command to be illegal, will officially contact the competent authorities , or everything will remain as is.

38/ "P.S. People have already recorded video messages. Sent them to relatives. They said that if they do not get in touch within 5 days, they will send them over the Internet." /end

Sources:
t.me/heads_hunters/…
t.me/dva_majors/636…
t.me/yurasumy/20712
t.me/yurasumy/20788
t.me/yurasumy/20804
t.me/yurasumy/20850