A Ukrainian journalist said a Russian soldier ran over his commander in a tank to protest the huge losses suffered by his unit in Ukraine.
The lawsuit followed footage allegedly showing Russian Colonel Yuri Medvedev being admitted to the hospital on a stretcher after severe leg injuries.
According to Roman Tsymbalyuk, who is said to have been the last Ukrainian journalist in Russia before fleeing the country in January, Medvedev was shot down by one of his soldiers, who was outraged by the heavy losses the unit had suffered.
Pictured: a still from a video purporting to show Russian Colonel Yuri Medvedev being taken to the hospital on a stretcher after severe leg injuries. A Ukrainian journalist said that Medvedev was shot down by a tank driven by his own soldier.
Tsymbalyuk said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that the 1,500-strong tank battalion has lost about half of its personnel either dead or wounded.
“The soldier, having chosen a convenient moment during the battle, crushed his brigade commander, Colonel Yuri Medvedev, with a tank, injuring both legs,” Tsymbalyuk wrote in his report to his subscribers.
“Medvedev is in a hospital in Belarus and has already been awarded the Order of Courage.” According to him, the colonel is now awaiting compensation.
There has been no independent confirmation of this claim, but a video released by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, allegedly shows Medvedev being transported by medical troops to Belarus for treatment in a hospital.
One Chechen fighter who fights with the National Guard and is under Putin’s direct control told him: “Wait… how are you? OK? Talk to us…
Medvedev replied: “I’m fine. Where are you from?’
There has been no independent confirmation of this claim, but a video (pictured) released by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, allegedly shows Medvedev being transported by medical troops to Belarus for treatment in a hospital.
According to Roman Tsymbalyuk (pictured), who is said to have been the last Ukrainian journalist in Russia before fleeing the country in January, Medvedev was shot down by one of his soldiers, who was angered by the heavy casualties the unit had suffered.
The video, in which Medvedev is allegedly being taken to Belarus by sanitary troops for hospitalization, was published by the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov.
The colonel was then ordered to keep his bulletproof jacket on and was then unloaded onto a stretcher with blankets covering his legs.
Tsymbalyuk did not say what happened to the soldier driving the tank, but the report follows several other reports indicating low morale among Putin’s forces, which have made little progress in Ukraine.
NATO estimates on Wednesday that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the four-week war in Ukraine, where fierce fighting by the country’s fast-moving defenders robbed Moscow of the lightning victory it sought.
For comparison, Moscow has lost about 15,000 soldiers in Afghanistan in 10 years.
A senior NATO military official said the alliance’s assessment is based on information from Ukrainian officials, what Russia has made public – intentionally or not – and intelligence gathered from open sources. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the ground rules set by NATO.
When Russia unleashed its invasion on February 24, the biggest offensive in Europe since World War II, the democratically elected Ukrainian government seemed likely to be quickly overthrown.
But as Wednesday marks four full weeks of fighting, Russia is mired in a grueling military campaign.
Pictured: a burnt Russian tank and captured tanks against the background of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the Sumy region, Ukraine, March 7, 2022.
Local residents walk down the street between anti-tank Czech hedgehogs in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa, on March 16, 2022.
While his ground forces have been repeatedly slowed down or halted by incoming Ukrainian units armed with Western weapons, Putin’s troops are firing at targets from afar, returning to the tactics they used to reduce cities to rubble in Syria and Chechnya.
Russia released very little information about its losses, saying on March 2 that about 500 soldiers were killed and nearly 1,600 wounded.
However, a NATO official said today that between 30,000 and 40,000 Russian soldiers are estimated to have been killed or wounded.
Ukraine also claims to have killed six Russian generals. Russia recognizes only one dead general.
The NATO figures represent the alliance’s first public assessment of Russia’s losses since the start of the war.
The US government has largely declined to provide public estimates of Russian or Ukrainian casualties, saying the information available is of questionable validity.
As the toll mounts and no more quick victory is in sight, Russia has to work to quell dissent and bolster morale.
He arrested thousands of anti-war demonstrators and cracked down on the media.
Pro-Russian troops in uniform without insignia on a tank during the Ukrainian-Russian conflict outside the separatist-controlled city of Volnovakha in Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 15, 2022.
In addition, under a law passed on Wednesday, military personnel in Ukraine will receive the same benefits as veterans of previous wars, including tax breaks, discounts on utilities and preferential access to treatment.
In a clear reflection of growing divisions in Russia’s top echelons of power, a senior official, Anatoly Chubais, has resigned, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency.
Chubais, the architect of Russia’s post-Soviet privatization campaign, has held various high official positions for three decades. His last role was as Putin’s envoy to international organizations.
Peskov did not say whether Chubais left the country.
Western officials say Putin’s troops are facing severe shortages of food, fuel and cold-weather gear, and soldiers are suffering from frostbite, while Ukraine’s defenders go on the offensive in preparation to reclaim lost territory.
However, the Russian military is far stronger and larger, and many Western military experts warn against overconfidence in Ukraine’s long-term chances.
The Kremlin’s practice in past wars has been to crush resistance with strikes that have razed cities, killing countless civilians and sending millions to flee.
Negotiations on the cessation of hostilities continued via video link. Zelensky said the talks with Russia are “step by step, but they are moving forward.”
Without peace, those who had not yet fought were ready for it.
“Today all are bestsellers,” said Zakhar Sluzhaly, owner of a gun shop in Lvov. “We are protecting our land,” he said. “We are fighting for our freedom and the freedom of the rest of Europe.”