By David Glenn Cox
The signs are bad and getting worse for the Russian Army in Ukraine. Intercepted phone calls warning front line commanders to use extreme ammunition discipline. Reports of mutinies and a breakdown of moral due to the very same problems which have plagued the Russian army from the very first day of their invasion. Shortages of food and shortages of equipment.
Soldiers mutinied at a training base over the lack winter boots and gloves. The soldiers claimed they hadn’t had a hot meal in a month. Many soldiers were sick with the flu and received no healthcare. The soldiers shouted, “How do you expect us to fight a war! When you can’t even take care of us at home?”
The former Wagner group commander Andrei Medvedev, who fled to Norway confirms the shooting of their own soldiers for daring to retreat. Near Bakhmut the other day, the Ukrainians reported repelling Russian mass infantry attacks with heavy Russian losses. Over 900 dead Russians and the Russians gained…nothing!
Clearly this points to an army running out of steam. Mass infantry attacks are futile without proper armor or air support. It’s suicide. Why would a commander choose such a flawed and hopeless strategy, if the order hadn’t come from upstairs?
It appears the Russian army is steeped their own bureaucracy. The mail comes on Tuesday and the resupply truck comes on Wednesday. The Russian frigate sunk by the Ukrainians in the Black Sea was patrolling the same path every night at the same time. So, it became a simple matter to put up an artillery barrage aimed at where the ship was expected to be.
But the supply train was due in at the station. So, a convoy of Russian trucks and armored vehicles was dispatched from the front line to meet it. On the same day and same time as last week. Travelling along same road as last week was suddenly ambushed and largely destroyed. What was in those trucks? Nothing important really, just food, ammunition, and fuel. I hope you guys aren’t hungry… this week. They’ll be another supply train along next week. Provided that they can clear the wreckage of this week’s supply train from the tracks before next week’s supply train is due to arrive.
Ukrainian special forces crossed the Dnieper River and attacked and destroyed a Russian command post in the middle of the night. It’s hard to get a good night’s sleep knowing the enemy isn’t one bit afraid to come right into your camp in the middle of the night. Set explosives, blow up your headquarters and kill the sentries. The Ukrainians then melted away in small boats with only two men injured.
But on a more ominous note, are the reports of 100 Chechen soldiers being killed in a “training accident.” Supposedly, the Chechens were training with biological weapons. And well, it’s not difficult to understand how those accidents could happen. But on the other hand, it could be just more Russian propaganda designed to frighten the West. Using chemical weapons would be crossing the Rubicon. Swift international condemnation would follow and whatever allies Russia had left would be forced to run for cover.
The announcement of Western battle tanks being given to Ukraine has caused what can only be described as a major media shit storm of threats and condemnation from Moscow. The Russian version of Faux News screams that NATO must be destroyed! That this all the Americans doing!
Forgetting of course, that the Russians invaded Ukraine and not the other way around. But the Russian Faux News equivalent dismissed the Leopards and Abrams tanks as worthless junk and futile when facing the proud Russian army. And if you really think that is so fellas, why the shit storm over them?
There was a time long ago, when the shortages, failures and military fiascos could be hidden from the public. The Russians have been trying to hide their losses by declaring soldiers as “Missing.” But that sword cuts both ways because while does hide the deaths, it also hides the deserters. There was a recent report of Russian soldiers commandeering a tank in an attempt leave for home without permission. They can’t shoot you in the back if you drive out in a tank.
But the story goes, that the unit commander stood front of the tank and ordered the men to stop. Warning them, that if they didn’t stop. He would order the unit to open fire on the tank. The tank didn’t stop and when the commander gave the order to open fire. The soldiers refused and the tank ran over the unit commander, crushing both of his legs.
These events can no longer be hidden from the Russian public due to the advent of cell phones and social media. The Russian public is not in the dark about what is going at the front. The reports are reaching home about the lack of basic supplies and horrendous human losses. Couple that with Moscow putting Anti-aircraft systems on the roof tops of buildings. And a domestic economy that is beginning to stall due to sanctions.
But wars are always unpopular, when there is no obvious reason for fighting them. The Russian public has begun to call this “Putin’s War.” By doing so the Russian public is thereby disassociating itself from the war. They see no patriotic reason to fight it and instead put the blame on one single politician. High-profile public trials of war protestors charged with treason are the government’s answer to contain public criticism and yet the criticism remains.
While the battle goes on for Bakhmut in Donetsk the Russian fear grows in Luhansk. The Russians have begun to evacuate Russian citizens and military dependents from the region. They suddenly feel the region is no longer a safe place for Russians to live. This type of evacuation happened once before when the Ukrainians pushed the Russians out of Mykolaiv area before Christmas.
Trouble at home and trouble abroad. Russian diplomats have been calling on all their allies to help them. But nobody loves you when you’re down and out. The Iranians can’t help much, and the Chinese won’t help. Both countries are having their own domestic problems. The Chinese are far too smart to hitch their wagon to the falling Russians star at this point.
The Leopards and the Abrams tanks might just be the straw, that breaks the Russian camel’s back. And might also answer the question of why the West chose now to give Ukrainians the tanks. Ammunition and equipment shortages, defections and desertions and evacuations. Discontent at home and a looming crises about ending “Putin’s War.”
“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”
― Winston S. Churchill
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