Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russia is suffering huge casualties in the battle for Kostiantynivka, says a Russian soldier who is fighting there. He says that 75% of his unit of poorly-trained middle-aged men was killed in a single assault, with dogs eating the skeletonised bodies of the dead nearby. ⬇️

2/ A man named Tamerlan – likely from the North Caucasus, judging by the name – has recorded a video describing his experiences. He says:

"Today, 27 men went into the assault, and only six survived ... "

3/ "They're just fucking new guys, they've just arrived, they haven't even been serving for a month, damn it. We were herding them in there... It was a complete mess."

4/ According to Tamerlan, most of the men in the unit are old, unfit and barely trained (which corroborates earlier reports by Russian warbloggers that most new recruits are now older or elderly men, who often join up to provide a windfall for their families):

5/ "Some fucking guys came in, young ones, probably four of them. And the rest were like 45, 50, 60 years old. And they, you see, can't even carry an automatic rifle and body armour—they can't even carry themselves. I look at them and think, fuck, it's a shame."

6/ Soldiers bribe their commanders to avoid going into assault, but get sent to the front lines anyway:

"We have a guy we know. He basically gave away 300,000 [$3,600] or something to leave us for the rear area. He spent two weeks there."

7/ "He got drunk once, and that was it, he came back to us. He just threw 200,000 [sic] away. And then they sent him on leave. He fucked off to the AWOL list, damn it, they're looking for him now."

8/ Volunteers provide the unit with supplies and equipment, but according to Tamerlan, it is promptly stolen by the commanders:

9/ "If there’s a nice volunteer [item], those faggots at headquarters who just sit around take it for themselves right away. And we’re left with nothing but fucking scraps."

10/ He is scathing about his commanders:

"Fuck, all our commanders are sitting on their asses, for fuck’s sake. They don’t want to do a damn thing. ... Our commander weighs about 130 kilos, I guess. He can’t even always get the fuck off the couch."

11/ "He’s got all these fucking medals—the Order of Zhukov, the Order of Courage, and a third one, a tenth one. For what, for fuck’s sake? He doesn’t even know what his own rifle looks like, for fuck’s sake. A fat, fat pig. He couldn't get up. They helped him out of his chair."

12/ Evacuation and the recovery of bodies simply doesn't happen: "If you're 300 [wounded] or 200 [dead], they're not likely to go after you. That's a very rare occurrence. And even then, it's just some guys passing by. Maybe they'll stumble upon you."

13/ "They'll drag you along, leave you there, come back a week later, and find you still lying there."

14/ In scenes reminiscent of the First World War, the unrecovered bodies of dead Russian soldiers have been lying around their positions for so long that they have been reduced to skeletons, with stray dogs eating their flesh:

15/ "You walk out of our dugout, and there are our dead bodies lying three meters away. You can't touch them, no fucking way ... They're nothing but bones and hair. Well, that means they're unlikely to stink anymore ...

16/ "You know how many stray dogs there are running around, and why are they being picked clean like that?" /end

Source:
t.me/ne_zhdi_novost…