Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ A Russian soldier and his comrades were tied to trees to be 'sacrificed to Baba Yaga' as a punishment for refusing a suicidal order to fake the capture of a village, after many other men had died while attempting to achieve the same objective. ⬇️

2/ Ilya Sergeyevich Gorkov and three other colleagues were tied to trees for four days with "no food, no water, nothing, and they won’t take us anywhere to the toilet." They were told: "You'll die here under a kamikaze [drone] or under artillery fire."

3/ The Russian army has used 'tree punishments' frequently (see the thread below). The practice has been dubbed 'sacrificing to Baba Yaga' after the nickname for the Ukrainian bomber drones which have caused many Russian casualties.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1913291713302695971

4/ In Gorkov's case, he was on his fourth deployment in Ukraine from April 2025 onwards. He had previously been a crew member on a TOS-1A "Solntsepyok" thermobaric rocket launcher, before being transferred to the infantry.

5/ He was placed in the assault detachment of the 36th Motorized Rifle Regiment (military unit 12274), which was located in the Lyman area north-east of Sloviansk. According to Gorkov's mother, he was sent on a mission to a Ukrainian-held settlement.

6/ Gorkov and his comrades were ordered to take a photo with a Russian flag near a prominent building in the settlement (probably a town hall or house of culture). Flag-raising videos are a regular feature of Russian propaganda.

7/ Such videos are often used by commanders to make false reports of military successes to their superiors, in the expectation that they will receive medals and cash awards. Russian warbloggers have often complained about the harm this practice causes.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1934250068728836141

8/ Raising the flag in a contested area can be a bloody affair: "The commander, through his thoughtless actions, killed a large number of people in a very short period of time, trying to get the guys to carry out a senseless order."

9/ Only four of Gorkov's group survived. When they returned, the commander – a man with the call sign Luxor – ordered them to try again, but they refused. In retaliation, the survivors were all tied to trees.

10/ Gorkov's mother sent the video of her son and his comrades tied up to the Ministry of Defence to try to force action against Luxor, but they "responded that I was sending videos that discredited the unit, that this had not been proven, that these were not our…

11/ …service members, and in general, that it was not us."

Gorkov was sent on temporary leave, but on his return his commander threatened to kill him. Gorkov went AWOL as a result and is now in an assembly point at Roshchinsky, Samara Oblast.

12/ According to his mother, Gorkov is now being prepared for another deployment to Ukraine. She is seeking help to cancel his deployment to the front, where he faces a high chance of being killed by his own side. /end

Source:
t.me/ne_zhdi_novost…