A few days ago, two “creative brigades” with opera singers, actors and circus people were announced to be deployed to the battlefront, the British Ministry of Defense said in a short daily report on Twitter on Sunday. The British suspect that Russia’s culture and entertainment offensive is closely tied to an ideologically-trained political upbringing. This has been closely linked with Russians since Soviet times.
At the same time, there are doubts in London that the Kremlin can really use this to boost the morale of Russian troops. The biggest problems for the Russians remain high casualties, weak leadership, salary problems and incomplete equipment. It was said that the “creative brigades” could do little with these challenges.
Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in late February, the British Ministry of Defense has published daily information on the course of the war, citing intelligence information. In doing so, the British government wants to counter the Russian portrayal and keep the Allies in line. Moscow accuses London of a disinformation campaign.
Weapon Guides on Wikipedia
The “New York Times” (“NYT”) also reported a “disaster” in the equipment of Russian troops. Thus Russian soldiers would have little food, ammunition or any idea of the weapons made available to them. Wikipedia instructions were often used to prepare. If there are maps, some of them are from the 1960s.
An “NYT” investigation based on interviews, intercepted data, documents and secret battle plans reveals the “mess” in their own ranks. “Our artillery fires at our own soldiers. Idiots shoot each other. We’re just killing ourselves here,” the NYT quoted a conversation that could be seen over an open phone line.
IMAGO/TASS/Russian Ministry of Defense Press Office In more than eight months, Russia has severely devastated Ukraine and declared the southeastern part Russian territory
Lack of prior knowledge, inadequate training
After the partial mobilization ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in September, numerous recruits complained that they were inadequately equipped and trained in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. A few months ago, men worked as factory workers or truck drivers.
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War in Ukraine: what lies ahead in 2023?
One paramedic was a former barista who never received medical training, he said. “This is not a war. This is the destruction of the Russian people at the hands of their own commanders,” the NYT said, citing a call from a Russian soldier outside Moscow. After the start of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine in February, tens of thousands of Russians fled the country. A second wave of breakouts occurred after Putin announced on September 21 that 300,000 reservists would be mobilized.
Shoigu inspects positions from the front
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Russian military positions in Ukraine, officials said. “The head of the Russian military authority flew over the areas of deployment of the armed forces and inspected the front positions of the Russian units in the area of the special military operation,” the Ministry of Defense announced on its Telegram channel on Sunday.
In Russia, the war against Ukraine is officially called just a “special military operation”. The text is accompanied by a video that shows Shoigu in the helicopter. The report goes on to say that Shoigu listened to reports from commanders and spoke with private soldiers. He also thanked them for their “exemplary performance of duty”. The visit was mainly about supplying the armed forces.
IMAGO/SNA/Evgeny Odinokov For many, the war only happened on TV screens until the mobilization
Artillery bombardments in Kherson
On Sunday, Russia continued its attacks on Ukraine. At least three people were injured by Russian artillery fire in the center of the city of Kherson, recently abandoned by the Russians, Ukrinform news agency reported. According to authorities, one person was killed and eight were injured by grenades in the Belgorod region of southern Russia, close to the border with Ukraine.
Ukraine: the fight continues for Bakhmut
After Russian attacks on electricity and water infrastructure in Ukraine, heat supply in the capital Kyiv has been largely restored. The course of the front in Ukraine’s war has changed little in recent weeks. In recent months, the most intense fighting has taken place in the small town of Bakhmut in the east of the country.
“Our air defenses were placed over Belgorod and surroundings. There are consequences on the ground,” the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on his Telegram channel on Sunday. There were impacts both in the city center and on a nearby farm. A worker who was busy building a new stable also died there. Of the eight injured, seven had to be hospitalized and one is in intensive care. Several houses and cars were damaged.
Belgorod is one of the southern regions of Russia close to Ukraine, where facilities such as fuel and ammunition depots have been destroyed by explosions since the beginning of the war. Russia has repeatedly blamed the Ukrainian attacks.