The British Defense Ministry's December 18 intelligence update highlights Russian Shtorm-Z troops returning to combat with untreated wounds, including amputations, due to minimal medical care. Convict recruits face worse conditions, straining military and home units.
Storm-Z is a group of Russia's penal military units established by the Russian Defense Ministry in April 2023, modeled after the Wagner Group's penal recruitment.
- Members of Russian Shtorm-Z units are highly likely being returned to combat duties with unhealed wounds, and even after limb amputations. This follows credible reports that members of Shtorm-Z, Donetsk militias, and Wagner Group have frequently received minimal or no treatment.
- It is likely that convict recruits - who make up a large proportion of Shtorm-Z units - are especially liable to receive poor treatment. One reason is that prisoners often lack the paperwork required to access military hospitals.
- Whilst reducing pressure on an overburdened military medical system, the lack of proper in-theatre medical attention will transfer the administrative and medical burden back to troops’ home units.
Read also:
- UK intel: Russia depends on convicts in Ukraine offensives
- British Intel: Ukraine regains Stepove amid fierce battles for Avdiivka
- Russia increasingly frees convicted killers to fight against Ukraine – WP
- Media: Russia uses prisoners as cannon fodder in Ukraine
- Military: Russia lost 5,000 troops near Avdiivka, Mariinka in two weeks
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