Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russian commanders are said to be faking successes in the war in Ukraine in order to earn cash bonuses and awards, an approach Russian sources call "taking on credit". This is being blamed for Ukraine's recent advances in the Kursk region. ⬇️

2/ Recent setbacks for the Russians, such as the breakthrough in the Kursk pocket on 7 February and the bloody battles for control of Novoiehorivka, are being blamed by Russian warbloggers on corrupt behaviour by commanders.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1886147804252274768

3/ Warblogger Roman Alekhine writes that Ukraine was able to break through Russian lines around Cherkasskaya Konopelka because of "the lies of the brigade command about the real situation [and extent of] controlled areas." The troops that were supposed to be there weren't.

4/ As a result, he says, "the brigade commander of the 11th Brigade was removed. For bullshit."

Another Russian warblogger, Roman Saponkov, says that the territory around Cherkasskaya Konopelka had only been "taken on credit" by Russia. He explains how this deceit works:

5/ "It is common at the front to take territory only in reports, without actual control. The commander is entitled to cash payments, awards, etc. for advancement.

6/ "Therefore, there is a great temptation to include the territory taken today in the report, and the stormtroopers will physically enter tomorrow. The problem is that the territory still needs to be taken. And the stormtroopers are coming.

7/ "And if the territory is taken, how can artillery and aviation be spent on it? And the stormtroopers come without artillery support."

Saponkov says that the problem is particularly acute around the New Year, presumably because commanders want to get Christmas bonuses:

8/ "Once again some irresponsible commanders are driving stormtroopers [into assaults] without preparation and artillery, which leads to big losses.

9/ "Because the commanders took more settlements and plantations on credit for the New Year, and now they are trying to pay off the credits with meat, without artillery and aviation.

10/ "Here, as always, we cannot find a balance between moving forward, excessive losses and infamous reporting. Let's [not] slap the commanders for losses, they will stop attacking.

11/ "But if we do not punish them for losses and lies, they will lay stormtroopers in the ground for show, according to the principle 'I attacked, there is no battalion left, send new disposable ones.'"

This scenario, he says, explains what happened at Cherkasskaya Konopelka:

12/ "Something similar happened yesterday, when the command of the 11th Brigade took [the Konopelka] dam on credit, along which the enemy drove into our rear like a highway. By the way, the armour was caught already on the way out, without landing troops.

13/ "The brigade commander of the 11th Brigade, according to rumours, has already been removed. Perhaps, according to our tradition, they will now promote him. This is not a joke, it is customary for us to send those who are professionally unfit on leave and then reappoint them.

14/ "In extreme cases, send them to teach at the Frunze Academy. And the new brigade commander will think about how to cut off the enemy's supplies to Sudzha in the new conditions. I hope he will solve the problem for real, and not on credit." /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/romanov_92/460…
🔹 t.me/romanov_92/460…
🔹 t.me/RSaponkov/10298
🔹 t.me/RSaponkov/10375