Russian retreat exposes military weaknesses
Olga Ivshina, BBC | 1 day agoRussia's retreat from Kharkiv, north-eastern Ukraine, has exposed key weaknesses in the supplies and staffing of the nation's armed forces, Russian veterans and military bloggers say.
"You have no idea how tired I am to say hello to someone in the morning and then have to identify his remains later the same day," one Russian officer serving as a marine in Ukraine reportedly confided over the phone to a former colleague back home, who published it on his Telegram channel.
"Just yesterday two of my sniper groups were destroyed by a tank. Three men died instantly, the fourth one fought for his life for an hour and a half, another one in critical condition was taken to hospital. We have hardly any men left and we are holding a front line dozens of kilometres long."
While Russian officials and state media are trying to play down the Russian forces' retreat from Kharkiv, individual war reporters, veterans and influential military bloggers are acknowledging numerous challenges within closed messaging channels.
Blogs and Telegram channels are littered with stories of inadequate equipment and personnel, compounded by a rigid operational hierarchy.
One Telegram channel, sharing experiences of soldiers in the field in Ukraine shortly after the latest retreat, describes how
even deploying a small surveillance drone needs to be approved by a senior officer or a general, considerably slowing down understanding of enemy positions.
Another channel on Telegram, reportedly run by a Russian special forces veteran, has posted a photo of a Russian soldier sporting an arm patch embroidered with the words: "There is no opponent worse than your own commander who is a…
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62914958
This is a severe handicap on the battle field. The Russian Army stifles combat initiative. All mid-level officers do nothing unless given orders.