Mutiny in the Ranks

Even Ukrainian commanders say Russia's obsession with Bakhmut is perplexing.

"We're just sent in for slaughter. The commanders are telling us in the face we're disposable soldiers and our only chance to go back home is to get injured in fighting."

"The commanders don't care about our lives. We're asking for help. We have no one else to turn to."

Russian conscript, Irkutsk, Siberia

"We don't know how much of this discontent is left unpublicized but those videos most likely speak to the use of 'human wave attacks' widely reported by the Ukrainian army."

Ruslan Leviev, head, investigative Conflict Intelligence Team

"Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin], this is a plea from men mobilized from the Irkutsk region."

"We're asking you to look into the illegal and criminal orders of our commanders and take action."

Russian conscript, Irkutsk region

"Why should I fight there? What for? Who for? They're sending us to a sure death."

"Go jail us! How much is it? 5, 7, 10 [years' imprisonment]."

"I don't give a damn. At least I'll get to live."

Mobilized soldier from 1,004th regiment

 

Videos and messages being sent from the Russian army inside Ukraine have been proliferating of late, revealing fighting among servicemen from the Russian military on the front lines and the local Donetsk militia members.  The offensive in Donetsk's north appears to be faltering. Chaos reigns. Mobilized soldiers recently sent to the front are refusing their orders to face "certain death" by "human wave" attacks they claim have been eliminating units in their entirety.

Some of the servicemen have taken to their trust in Vladimir Putin by appealing to him directly, describing fears of their persona existential plight. It obviously has passed their notice that it is on his personal orders that they find themselves in such a dilemma; fight for the glory of Russian conquest, or die. Do both, in actual fact, the President of Russia would have it so.

New reports describe fighters refusing to risk their lives as human decoys, being locked into basements, deprived of the necessities of life until such time that they find themselves agreeing that they might survive becoming a target. A new unit has been created within the Russian military dedicated to rounding up all the "lost" soldiers who have been deserting, fleeing or attempting to find the whereabouts of their teams. 

Video messages have been recorded by soldiers from sixeen different regions since earlu February. Soldiers point a finger of blame at commanders who use them in "human wave" attacks, reports the Russian media outlet Verstka. According to military observers, it has become increasingly common to make use of sending "human waves" of poorly trained, poorly armed fighters into the line of fire to try to overwhelm the opposition.

 

Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut fire mortars toward Russian positions

 

Staggering Russian losses of up to a thousand men a day have been reported by Ukrainian forces. The grinding battle to take Bakhmut has succeeded in stalling the Russian advance. A small, contested city, smashed by months of shelling, an elusive 'prize' that the entire Russian military apparatus allied with the dreaded Wagner Group of mercenaries, are unable to penetrate and destroy the Ukrainian military's defence.

The unit of one Russian appealing to Putin had made a previous appeal to no avail, and was ultimately "almost completely wiped out", said a successor unit. Four pleas from the 1,439th regiment failed to move Putin with their desperate cries for release from the hell he has consigned them to. Leading their female relatives back home to record a desperate video themselves, addressing Putin as "our only hope" to "save our men". 

"The commanders have abandoned them and told them not to leave their positions. Our men have been without food or water for a few days but surviving under constant shelling", wrote the women in yet another desperate plea. An Irkutsk media outlet in exile, People of Baikal, traced the men's relatives after desperate pleas were posted on local social media groups subsequently deleted. One of the wives recording the appeal described her husband as a "patriot who respected Putin and thought he was ding everything right in Ukraine".

"[The commander] was sending them for slaughter: People were shot and killed like at a shooting range. The guys were alone in a minefield, without any air support of any reinforcement", said the wife.  Utter disarray in the Russian ranks have been reported from even pro-Kremlin sources. One of Russia's most popular pro-war Telegram channels, Rybar, admitted the country's army faces problems of soldiers who "got lost". Convicts recruited to fight are rebelling.

A video showing conscripted convicts thrown into a basement outside Donetsk being punished for refusing to follow orders was published in media outlet Ostorozhno Novosti this week. Only 11 people from their unit of 71 men survived, they said. Mobilized men from 1,004th regiment were videoed confronting a commander dispatched from their native Kaliningrad to address a mutiny. The men shouted at him that they've been used as "meat", refusing to return to the attack. 

Ukrainian tanks roll toward the front line in the Donetsk region.