Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Many of the Russian soldiers seen daily being blown up by Ukrainian drones are there not because they're trained infantry, but are specialists or even officers who are being sent to their deaths as a punishment. A Russian colonel says he's never seen anything like it. ⬇️

2/ An 'old recruit' who has survived two years' service in the Russian army writes to warblogger and journalist Maxim Kalashnikov to relay his experience of how the army is routinely sending men to die in assaults for displeasing their superiors, regardless of their expertise:

3/ "About a month ago, I managed to meet with an officer from our artillery battalion. We started serving in it at the same time. I was dropped from the unit to the hospital earlier. He displeased his superiors and ended up in an assault unit. He wasn't alone, though.

4/ "Half the artillery battalion's soldiers, who had already mastered their guns and begun shooting well, were sent by their commander to the infantry. It's impossible to say this was an isolated incident.

5/ "Almost every soldier can cite a dozen examples of such treatment of professionals. Each case can be documented. Let's return to my friend. He holds the rank of captain. He was sent to command a company in the infantry.

6/ "And that was precisely when the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an attack on our territory. For six days and six nights, the Bandera followers kept coming at them. Only five men from the company remained—those who managed to make their own way out of their positions.

7/ "Hospital. Back to the assault. Hospital. Mortar battery. Hospital. And so on, until the fourth time. In just over a year, four times his body was pierced and his head was shaken.

8/ "He calls me and happily informs me that he won't be going on any more attacks. What happened? "My leg," he says, "was torn off almost at the knee." I've got what I wanted! I felt a certain dissonance at first. How can he lose his leg and be happy?

9/ "But it turns out he's happy to be alive after so many battles. Well, if that's the case...

I almost thought the guy had lost his mind. We sat together for a couple of hours. He told me a lot.

10/ "If you started collecting everything the soldiers say about the order in the army and about the commanders, it would become a multi-volume work...

In that Moscow military hospital where I visited my captain, I had a chance to talk with an Airborne Forces colonel.

11/ "The guy is a real fighter! He served as a conscript in Afghanistan. Military training. Two Chechen wars. And this one didn't involve him sitting in a dugout far from the front lines. That's why he's in the hospital for the second time.

12/ "A drone drop had damaged his legs with shrapnel. Hearing the colonel’s account—and not just his—makes you want to tear your hair out. Down with those who allowed the war to unfold in this way.

13/ "A paratrooper colonel's words: "I've fought in many places. But I've never seen such an attitude toward military affairs and the lives of soldiers. It's hard to bear." /end

Source:
t.me/roy_tv_mk/20649