27 October 2023, Friday, 16:22 239

Russian military execute soldiers who refuse to follow orders - Kirby

Editor: Daria Zubkova

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The United States has information that the russian military execute soldiers who refuse to follow orders, and that russian commanders threaten to shoot entire units.

This was announced by the Coordinator for Strategic Communications of the White House, John Kirby, at a briefing.

"In their pursuit of certain tactical successes in Avdiyivka and elsewhere on the battlefield, russia continues to disregard the lives of its soldiers. We believe they have suffered thousands of casualties in attempting this offensive, some of them - at the behest of their leaders.

We have information that the russian military actually execute soldiers who refuse to follow orders. We also have information that russian commanders are threatening to shoot entire units if they try to retreat under Ukrainian artillery fire," he said.

According to Kirby, russian mobilized forces remain untrained, underequipped and unprepared for combat.

"As with last year's failed winter offensive, the russian military appears to be using what we would call a 'human wave tactic' - simply throwing masses of these ill-prepared soldiers straight into battle, without proper equipment, without leadership, without resources, without support. It is not surprising that russian troops suffer from low morale under such conditions," he said.

Kirby did not answer the journalist's clarifying question about how long it had been going on, how many people were executed in this way, but called the phenomenon shameful and barbaric.

"It's disgraceful to think that you could execute your own soldiers for not following orders. And now they are threatening to execute whole units. It's barbaric. But I think it's a symptom of how poorly the russian military leaders understand what they are doing, and how badly they handled it from a military perspective," he said.

Kirby noted that in the US from the beginning they talked about poor command and control, poor logistics and support for the russian army.

"They can't feed their soldiers in the field, for God's sake. And now, again, they're ready to shoot them for disobeying orders," he added.

Kirby also emphasized that this also shows desperation in connection with the lack of personnel.

"Obviously, russia has a bigger army than Ukraine, and they have access to more human resources to man it, but they are so desperate for progress - especially in Donbas, in the Donetsk Region - that they are literally throwing young people, which were not properly prepared, were not properly equipped and, of course, were not properly led, into battle," he explained.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, according to British intelligence, the Storm-Z units, which the Kremlin wanted to form as elite units to intercept the tactical initiative on the front in Ukraine, have actually become penal battalions with prisoners.

In early October, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that there was a significant decrease in the number of mobilized servicemen from the population centers of the aggressor state of the russian federation for the war in Ukraine.