On this photograph launched by Russian Protection Ministry Press Service on July 6, 2023, a Russian 152 mm self-propelled Giatsint-S fires towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location.Russian Protection Ministry Press Service by way of AP
A Russian soldier informed CNN his commanders had been excessive on painkillers and gave nonsensical orders.
Slava, who was captured by Ukraine, stated this included troopers being despatched out below mortar hearth.
He informed CNN that he acquired solely two weeks of fundamental coaching and Russian troopers “had no morale.”
A captured Russian soldier informed CNN that his commanders in Ukraine had been excessive on medication and gave nonsensical orders that put their males’s lives in danger.
The prisoner, recognized as Slava, stated his commanders would ship troopers out below mortar hearth whereas excessive on their inventory of painkillers.
Slava additionally described leaping over craters and physique components amid Ukrainian shelling, earlier than being captured in a foxhole south of Bakhmut. It isn’t clear when this occurred.
CNN interviewed Slava and two different Russian troopers within the presence of Ukrainian troopers.
The outlet stated the captives didn’t look like talking below duress, and that it didn’t use their actual names to keep away from “potential detrimental penalties upon their return to Russia” and to comply with Pink Cross tips on reporting about prisoners of struggle.
Slava and Anton, one other soldier, stated that they had simply two weeks of fundamental coaching earlier than they had been deployed.
“We had no morale,” Slava added.
A number of studies have pointed to low morale amongst Russian troops, together with letters left behind by fleeing Russians detailing “ethical exhaustion” and “worsening” well being.
Russian troopers have additionally beforehand complained in regards to the competence of their commanders.
Each Slava and Anton, who had been recruited out of jail, stated that all the things that they had recognized in regards to the struggle got here from Russian media. Media in Russia is taken into account to be tightly managed by President Vladimir Putin.
Anton additionally described how he deliberate to kill himself when Ukrainian troopers reached him, as he anticipated to be both tortured or executed.
“I switched the rifle to single shot mode, and I assumed I’d shoot myself. However I could not,” he informed CNN.
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