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Russia uses mobilized Donbas men as cannon fodder for war in Ukraine – Ukrainian intel

russian invaders
Meeting of units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of Luhansk in Novoaidar in the course of Russian invasion of Ukraine, 6 March 2022. Wikimedia Commons
Russia uses mobilized Donbas men as cannon fodder for war in Ukraine – Ukrainian intel
Russian invaders are mobilizing residents of the temporarily occupied Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts of Ukraine to use them as so-called combat reconnaissance, i.e. cannon fodder, to reveal the positions of Ukrainian troops at the cost of their lives, Ukraine’s Military Intelligence reports.

Russia has started mass mobilization of men living in Russia-occupied part of Ukrainian Donbas, despite their lack of discipline and morale, for the war in Ukraine. According to these men, as Ukrainian Intelligence reports, Russian military command is exploiting them as so-called combat reconnaissance. The mobilized are sent to the line of collision to reveal the arrangement of firing positions of the Ukrainian army at the cost of their lives.

According to the mobilized men from occupied Donbas, a unit of 250-300 soldiers was sent to the Mykolaiv direction on 16 and 17 March. Their losses constituted 200 men. The survivors returned to Kherson oblast and refused to take part in combat activities.

Since Russia is pursuing the policy of denial of war victims among its military men, it deliberately conceals the number of the killed. According to Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, Russia-controlled authorities in occupied Luhansk city opened a point to hand over the bodies of the mibilized men from occupied Ukrainian areas in a shop “Kopiika” (translated as “coin”). Occupational police gives the bodies to the relatives together with the death certificate and burial permit, yet with no official explanation of the circumstances of death. No payments for the relatives of the men from occupied Donbas who fought and died in Ukraine are provided (even if they possess a Russian passport). At the same time, families of Russian fighters get 12 mln RUB (around 124,031 USD) payments upon their soldiers’ deaths.

Another way to conceal the real casualties is burning corps of the military from Russia or occupied Donbas in Donetsk Metallurgical Plant.

Meanwhile, Russians are continuing forced mobilization of people living in occupied areas Donetsk oblast to send unprepared unmotivated men to hot spots, where they will clear the way for the Russian army. These units’ casualties reach 70-80%.

But it seems that men from occupied Donbas, who have never held a gun in their hands, are not the only ones Putin wants to throw under the treads of Ukrainian tanks. It seems he has no other choice than opt for quantity.

Putin prepares to involve 17-year-old teenagers in Russia-Ukraine war

 

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