1/ Russian casualty ratios in Ukraine are in places as high as 25 to every 1 Ukrainian defender, according to the UK Defence Secretary John Healey. A newly published account by warblogger 'Bch3' of the lives of Russian convict stormtroopers helps to illustrate why. ⬇️ 
2/ "Different people. Different faces. Someone with a hoarse convict's voice, twisted by life like a Karelian birch; another simple, without his own opinion, just tagging along with fate. Mice with petty souls and predatory wolves; team players and loners.
3/ They're told — "You know cold and hunger, so go ahead, you are more prepared by life to survive, not to go crazy during a bloody assault." On all fronts, they are at the forefront of the attack, they do not receive medals and orders, those who follow.
4/ And when they were left surrounded, they called fire from FABs [heavy guided bombs] on themselves, in Kupyansk, in Zolotoy Kolodets, and other places. But who knows about this... Who even wants to know?
5/ "Here's a guy. The sentence is two years for some petty crime. He served one and a half, only six months left – he could have sat there quietly, playing backgammon. But he went. And he's already been here two and a half years. Five times longer than the remaining sentence.
6/ "And his "B" [fitness] status hasn't been lifted; they're transporting him to hospitals behind the tape [the border] in stages, under escort.
7/ "The last combat mission. Pokrovsk direction, the extreme point. It's 15 km from Malinivka, then another 30 km through tree lines and open fields. Sometimes you have to ride, sometimes you have to run. The Road of Death.
8/ "Ten to fifteen motorcyclists burn every day, and it's terrifying to hear people's death screams, but you can't stop and help them. FPVs [drones] are chasing you too. While crossing yet another open field with allies, I saw a fibre-optic drone waiting.
9/ "You can't hide from them; they appear behind you instantly. One of my allies was torn apart, two others heavily wounded; he took a hit to the leg, bone shattered below the knee. The two wounded had shrapnel in the head and body.
10/ "Forgetting his own leg, he started bandaging them, applying tourniquets, but they bled out and died in his arms. Then he crawled back, on sheer willpower somehow made it to the tree line, where allies picked him up.
11/ "They passed him to their colleagues, who sent a quad bike with a trailer carrying other wounded. Almost reached Malinivka when an FPV catches up. Two jumped off and ran; what was he supposed to do with his leg? In panic he jumped and ran too.
12/ "The drone turned and flew straight after him. He couldn't feel his leg, dodged the drone several times; someone shot and hit it — the drone exploded a couple of metres away, aiming right at his head.
13/ "He fell, blacked out for a moment, woke up feeling his face filling with blood. Two shrapnel fragments pierced his skull; plus while running he got two open leg fractures.
14/ "Now they'll patch him up and send him back, to the steppes and motorcycles, and even after trepanation his "B" status won't disappear.
Regarding supplies. We don't know about other units, but the Storm unit we're moving with lives off volunteers.
Regarding supplies. We don't know about other units, but the Storm unit we're moving with lives off volunteers.
15/ "They don't even have the most basic necessities—armour, helmets, camouflage suits, generators, machine gun magazines. Those are the ones who are first at the anvil of Victory.
16/ "They have their own hospital—they've asked for help, but to cover all the needs there, they need a lot of money—[the wounded] are coming in platoons, the expense is enormous. We used to have someone who could resolve these issues with a single phone call, but now he's gone.
17/ "We'll collect bit by bit, as much as we can. In March, [we'll collect] entirely for that hospital. If anyone's interested, we'll send you the locations of the most essential items." /end
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
