ISW: Pro-war Russian milblogger criticizes command, commits suicide

The colonel allegedly threatened to withhold supplies from Morozov's unit unless he removed his reports on Russian casualties in Avdiivka, suggesting that only presidential elections could effect change. Morozov suspected the colonel was acting on directives from higher military and political authorities, including propagandists like Vladimir Solovyov, who had previously targeted him.

Morozov stated that he sought to reveal the truth about the situation on the battlefield and could not continue serving under an abusive colonel leading a severely weakened brigade in a critical area, whose poor leadership exacerbated the challenges faced by Russian forces. He also suggested that Russian authorities might have planned to kill or arrest him and expressed disillusionment with his futile struggle against the inefficient Russian military bureaucracy.

Morozov noted that the Russian military command increasingly deployed mobilized personnel as barrier forces to prevent retreats or refusals to attack. He highlighted a formal complaint from a mobilized serviceman of the 1487th Regiment (under the 1st Donetsk People's Republic Army Corps), which was rejected by the Russian military prosecutor's office in early February.

The serviceman accused the "Veterany" PMC, allegedly staffed with convicts, drug addicts, and looters, of using mobilized personnel as barrier troops and avoiding participation in assaults. He noted that his battalion lacked essential equipment for offensive operations, such as grenade launchers, mortars, and vehicles. He also reported that Russian military medical staff refused to treat shellshocked servicemen, sending them back to the frontlines without medical examinations, a problem that he claimed was systemic across other Russian units.