Almost from the beginning of the fullscale Russian invasion of Ukraine, there have been complaints from Russian troops about the lack of training and equipment. In a new video posted to social media, Russian soldiers call out to Russian President Vladimir Putin for help right from the war zone.
In the recording, posted to Telegram and reported by German news agency DPA, the group’s spokesman laments the lack of equipment and says military commanders sent unprepared units to war. He appears masked and surrounded by a dozen uniformed men, also with covered faces.
The soldier appeals to Putin, as commanderinchief of the armed forces, to ensure that military commanders do their job. He laments the lack of equipment and lack of leadership on the part of the commanders. “We know we’re not the only ones making such requests,” he says, claiming he’s “in the Donetsk region.”
Putin did not visit the battlefield
He demands that Putin settle the situation on the ground, not just on paper. So far, Putin has not visited troops in the combat zone unlike Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has occasionally been to the front lines.
The Russian spokesman complained that there was a lack of equipment such as night vision goggles to carry out combat tasks.
Other fighters, as well as the wives, mothers and sisters of the soldiers had already complained about the precarious situation of the Russian troops at public demonstrations.
The spokesman accuses the commanders of ignoring the presidential decree and using unprepared units with the stormtroopers. “The leadership of our regiment doesn’t talk to us, intimidates us and threatens arrest if we refuse to fight and don’t go to the front,” he complains.
“Unjustified Risk”
The man complains that many combatants are dying needlessly because they are not being supported by the secret services and are not communicating with other units.
The man points out that the average age of the units is 40 years and many are limited due to health problems. “We do not refuse to perform territorial defense tasks. We refuse to take any unjustified risks machine guns against tanks, against mortars and snipers,” he said.
After months of heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine, both sides are complaining about a lack of ammunition. In the battle for Bakhmut, a largely destroyed town, both the Russians around the Wagner Group mercenaries and the Ukrainian defenders demand more ammunition.
Ammunition requests from both sides
Despite all the complaints, the fighting continues with undiminished ferocity. According to British experts, East Bakhmut is largely under Russian control. But Kiev does not want to give up defending the city.
Ukrainian CommanderinChief Valeriy Zalushnyi called for new ammunition and more equipment during a phone conversation with US Chief of Staff Mark Milley. He also stated that, according to official information, his country’s air defenses had to be strengthened.
In an interview published by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday (March 12), Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the lack of ammunition was the “number one problem” in the fight against the Russian occupiers. “Germany could really help more with ammunition. With artillery ammunition,” he said.
However, according to their boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian mercenaries of the Wagner group also lack artillery shells and cartridges. For the battle of Bakhmut, his troops need 10,000 tons of ammunition every month, Prigozhin said in a video calling for urgent supplies.
The video allegedly shows him on the roof of a house in Bakhmut. Many destroyed houses and streets can be seen in the area.
Russian advance at Bakhmut
According to a US think tank, Russia’s advance in Moscow’s campaign to capture Bakhmut appears to have stalled.
In an assessment of the longest land battle of that war, the Washingtonbased Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said there had been no confirmed advances by Russian forces at Bakhmut.
According to the institution, Russian forces and units of the Kremlincontrolled Wagner paramilitary group continue to conduct ground attacks on the city, but there is no evidence they have been able to make any progress, ISW said on Saturday.
md (DPA, AP)
A year of war in Ukraine: a timeline in pictures
On the morning of February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed in a year of fighting. Recall the most striking facts in this timeline.
Photo: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
A dark day for millions
On the morning of February 24, 2022, Ukrainians were woken up by explosions like this one in the capital, Kiev. Russia had launched a fullscale invasion that was the largest attack by one country against another since World War II. Ukraine immediately declared martial law. Civilian structures were attacked and soon the first deaths were reported.
Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine/Zuma/imago images
Russian President Vladimir Putin still insists that this is a “military special operation” and that the aim is to take over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine. Residents of Mariupol hid in basements for weeks. Many died under the rubble. A Russian airstrike in March on a theater in the city, where hundreds had taken refuge, drew condemnation from human rights groups.
Photo: Nikolai Trishin/TASS/dpa/Picture Alliance
The war in Ukraine forced an emigration not seen in Europe since World War II. According to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, more than eight million people have fled the country. Poland alone hosted 1.5 million people, more than any other EU country. Millions of people, mainly from eastern and southern Ukraine, had to flee.
Photo: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP
After a few weeks, the Ukrainian army succeeded in driving out Russian troops from areas in the north and northeast of the country. Russia’s plan to besiege Kiev failed. After the liberation of the regions, the scale of the atrocities became clear. Images of tortured and murdered civilians in Bucha near Kiev went around the world. Authorities reported 461 deaths.
Photo: Carol Guzy/ZUMA PRESS/dpa/Picture Alliance
Devastation and death in Kramatorsk
The number of civilian casualties in Donbass has increased rapidly. Authorities urged civilians to retreat to safer areas, but Russian missiles also hit people trying to escape in Kramatorsk. More than 61 were killed and 120 injured at the city’s train station in April as thousands waited to flee to safety.
Photo Credit: Seth Sidney Berry/ZUMA Press Wire/Picture Alliance
Search for safety underground
During Russian air raids, millions of Ukrainians took refuge in some form of shelter. For people close to the front within artillery range, basements became second homes. Residents of large cities also sought protection from the rockets. In Kiev (pictured) and Kharkiv metro stations are safe places.
Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
High nuclear risk in Zaporizhia
In the first weeks after the invasion, Russia occupied a large area of southern and eastern Ukraine, including the area around Kiev. Fighting spilled over into facilities at the Zaporizhia nuclear complex in the southeast, which has since been under Russian control. The International Atomic Energy Agency sent experts to the facility and required a safe zone around the facility.
Photo: ST/AFP/Getty Images
Desperate resistance in Mariupol
The Russian army besieged Mariupol for three months, preventing the shipment of ammunition and other supplies. The Azovstal steelworks complex was the last Ukrainian fortress in the city and housed thousands of soldiers and civilians. After a protracted attack, thousands of Russian soldiers took control of the facility in May 2022 and captured over 2,000 people.
Photo: Dmytro “Orest” Kozatskyi/AFP
A symbol of resistance
Russia captured Snake Island in the Black Sea on the first day of the war. A dialogue between the Ukrainian and Russian military during which the Ukrainians refused to surrender has gone viral. In April, the Ukrainians claimed to have sunk the Russian warship Moskva, one of two ships involved in the attack on the island. In June, Ukraine said it had driven the Russians off the island.
Photo: Border Guard Service of Ukraine/AFP
Uncertain death toll
The exact number of war dead remains uncertain. According to the UN, at least 7,200 civilians were killed and another 12,000 injured but the actual number could be far higher. The exact number of fallen Ukrainian soldiers is also uncertain. In December, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak put the number at up to 13,000. Unbiased statistics are not available.
Photo: Raphael Lafargue/abaca/Picture Alliance
Turning point for Ukraine
Western arms shipments to Ukraine have been a hot topic since the war began, but they’ve been slow to reach Kiev. A crucial help was the USmade Himars rocket launchers. They allowed the Ukrainian military to cut off supplies of ammunition to Russian artillery and also probably contributed to Ukraine’s successful counteroffensives.
Photo Credit: James Lefty Larimer/US Army/Zuma Wire/IMAGO
Relief with every release
In early September, the Ukrainian military launched a successful counteroffensive in Kharkiv, in the northeast of the country. The surprised Russians quickly retreated, leaving behind equipment, ammunition and even evidence of suspected war crimes. The Ukrainian military also managed to liberate Kherson in the south, and its residents celebrated the arrival of Ukrainian soldiers.
Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images
Explosion on the Crimean Bridge
In early October, there was a massive explosion on the bridge that Russia had built across the Kerch Strait, which connects to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow has occupied since 2014. The bridge was partially destroyed. Russia says a truck loaded with explosives from Ukraine caused the damage, but authorities in Kiev have not claimed responsibility for the attack.
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Massive attacks on energy infrastructure
A few days after the Crimean bridge blew up, Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Power outages occurred between Lviv and Kharkiv. Since then, these attacks have become routine. Due to massive damage to power plants and other civilian infrastructure, people in Ukraine face power cuts and water shortages almost every day.
Photo: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
Daily video messages from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he reports on the situation in the country and the ongoing war, are viewed by millions of people. Zelensky not only managed to unite the people of his country, but also won the support of the West. Under his leadership, European integration is well advanced and Ukraine is on the road to EU membership.
Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP
Waiting for Leopard 2 tanks
Ukraine’s defense depends heavily on foreign aid. A USled group of countries offered a billiondollar package in humanitarian, financial and military aid. The use of heavy artillery was hotly debated in the West, largely due to concerns about Russia’s response. But Ukraine will eventually receive Western tanks, mostly Germanmade Leopard 2s.
Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images
Bloody fighting has been raging in Bakhmut in the Donetsk region for months. Since Ukrainian troops lost control of the village of Soledar in early 2023, defending the town has become even more difficult. In January, the German secret service reported threedigit daily losses on the Ukrainian side. But the death toll in Russia is said to be even higher.
Photo: LIBKOS/AP/dpa/Picture Alliance