Russian prisoners saying their commanders executed their own wounded.

[Swede]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/uq18zl/russian_pow_tell_stories_of_how_their_commanders/

[Irish_Dem]

1. This has been happening since the beginning of the invasion.

Russia thought it would be a three day invasion and didn't bring medics or field hospital equipment. So the RU officers just killed their wounded.

I would think by now Russia could have brought in some medical equipment.

[empedocles]

2. +1

[Takket]

13. they probably don't have any

Putin doesn't have to explain why someone doesn't come home. but seeing soldiers in wheelchairs missing their legs is a lot harder for him to explain. He is all about propaganda.

[Irish_Dem]

14. Good point. It had not occurred to me that they had no medics or equipment.

Russian, one of the biggest armies in the world. No medical supplies or trained personnel. But given the incompetence and corruption that makes sense.

They probably think they are so formidable and competent that they don't need them. And Russia is notoriously for not valuing the lives of their troops.

[pandr32]

18. Inhuman. He is a predator sucking the lifeblood of the Russian people...

...and looking for more prey to gorge himself on.

[TheProle]

40. There were myriad stories of Russian medics deployed

And field hospitals being stood up in the lead up.

Not sure why this sort of patently false and reductionist misinformation runs so rampant here.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-says-it-sees-little-scope-for-optimism-in-u-s-proposals-on-ukraine-11643290065

https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-photo-field-hospital-russia-ukraine-experts-2022-2

https://news.sky.com/story/the-final-pieces-three-new-signs-of-russian-invasion-plans-for-ukraine-12533199

[roamer65]

3. Sounds about right.

[Frustratedlady]

4. I saw reports and heard statements on the news that the Russian army had trucks

that were strictly for cremation following their action.

Pretty sobering, eh?

[Irish_Dem]

7. Yes to reduce the number of body bags returning to Russia.

Putin is saying soldiers are "missing in action."

[C_U_L8R]

5. Sooner or later

These commanders may be executed by their own troops. They clearly haven't thought this strategy through.

[Achilleaze]

6. Sickly, the G.O.P. leader thinks the Russian leader is a "genius"

sick.

G.O.P. leader is sick, and so are those who blindly follow him and his Republican lies.

[Irish_Dem]

8. The GOP killing Americans is just collateral damage in their war against America.

Trump has no qualms at all about killing Americans.

He wanted to shoot US protesters.

And didn't care how many Americans died from Covid because of his lax policies.

[Eyeball_Kid]

10. Sooner or later, we'll find that Trump "ordered" killings throughout his political career.

He aspires to the role of merciless dictator. That's what they do.

[Irish_Dem]

11. I think so too.

I wonder if all of the ugly truth will ever be revealed.

[Lonestarblue]

19. I wonder if we'll ever know the truth about Epstein's death.

If it was not suicide, my total speculation would be that someone in either the New York mafia or the Russian mafia did Trump a favor

[housecat]

21. Why did he push the lies about the Central Park Five? Birtherism? The Big Lie?

He takes hot topics that are meant to divide people and pronounce him leader on the side of hate. He has always done it, and Democrats still don't seem to get it. "When someone tells you who they are, believe it." Hillary was spot on. Imagine America if the election wasn't stolen from her.

[SWBTATTReg]

29. And bombings too (Mexico)...pathetic little weasel (tRump)...

[thomski64]

20. And,sadly those who..

...vote for republicans

[skip fox]

9. This really souds fishy to me.

Not that I'm right, but the little I know of human nature tells me that killing your won wounded would be counterproductive in terms of leadership and morale.

There are only a few instances, it seems to me, when a commander shooting his own troops would be effective, as when men are ordered to leave the trenches as in WWI. That's one of the reasons why, even during a conflict, such actions only occur after a tribunal.

It sounds much more like demonizing the enemy.

But then I've never been in an army and only know of a warrior culture from books and films. And I would concede that the Russians, like the Germans of the past, probably have a warrior culture that is far more brutal than those in Europe/Canada/Australia/US.

[brush]

15. Sounds fishy to you? Does the constant bombing and shelling of...

apartment buildings, schools, hospitals and train stations sound fishy too? We're not dealing with an army that observes UN and humane norms on what is acceptable behavior in war. We're dealing with savagery here.

Doesn't sound fishy at all to me. Look at what's been happening for months in this war.

[XorXor]

23. I think it's more about trying to understand the benefit for Russian commanders to do so

Can see some situation in which they had to achieve some objective, but the wounded were slowing them down and they didn't have an effective way get them medical care. Then maybe some psychotic commander would order them to be shot than risk leaving them behind to potentially be captured. If that did happen, I wonder on what scale.

While it can be true, I take most everything during war time with a grain of salt. I trust the Ukrainians a hell of a lot more than I trust the Russians, but they are still in a shooting war and an information war against Russia.

Savagery happens in a war. It always has. It's just in this case the benefit is difficult to fully understand. The interview didn't shed much light into explaining the rationale behind the killing of the wounded.

[brush]

30. Crematory trucks. There for a reason.

[skip fox]

26. I wasn't speaking of their brutality. They are, indeed, monsters.

I was considering the pragmatics. If an officer kills your wounded buddy, he'll have a hard time taking youinto battle or, even, staying alive.

[brush]

33. You're attributing rational thought and action to...

Russian commanders. There have to be some, but from the conduct of the war so far, irrational actions sure seem to predominate.

I mean they thought they'd overrun Ukraine in three days. Nah, we're not dealing with a well-run military with well-trained officers and troops. They don't even have a tradition of professional, career non-coms who stand as buffers between the officers and troops and who get orders from officers done.

[skip fox]

34. You have a point, but

I wasn't just attributing rational thought to their commanders, but an instinct for self-survival. A commander would always have to be watching his back.

[brush]

35. The rational ones would never shoot the wounded.

As for the others, there's usually a kernel of truth in rumors.

[skip fox]

37. True.

I'd only add to "rational ones" in your subject line, the ones who want to keep on living.

[erronis]

16. "It sounds much more like demonizing the enemy." Really? Demonizing russia?

If you have some good examples of any honorable actions russia has had in the last 20+ years, please share.

I'll take the rest of your post to be a goodhearted attempt to paint war as honorable. I've never fought either (except to stay out of Vietnam) but I've spent a lot of time with veterans and pentagon types. Nothing about the damage that war does to civilians is honorable. It is all about moving gambling chips across the table - like rigged roulette with human lives.

[thomski64]

22. How dies one demonize......

....the Demonic?

[skip fox]

27. Please read my response to the post above yours.

[Swede]

24. They're all in on brutal.

Link to tweet

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1525183268869513218%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2F100216689283

[skip fox]

32. I never said they weren's brutal.

I simply made a pragmatic observation which I posted in some of these responses.

[TomSlick]

25. Commanders shooting their wounded would, in fact, be very counterproductive.

However, much the Russian Army has been doing is counterproductive.

Torture and murder of prisoners of war is counterproductive - it makes your enemy fight to the death. Targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure is counterproductive - it turns civilians into insurgents. Not collecting your war dead for return home is counterproductive - it damages troop morale. Sending poorly trained conscripts into battle is counterproductive - it damages troop morale and leads to mutiny. On the strategic level, if Putin's goal was to stop NATO enlargement and cause a split within NATO, the invasion has had the opposite effect.

At this point, the fact is would be counterproductive to shot your own wounded does not mean the story is untrue.

[skip fox]

31. At last a response that read and understood my post. And it's intelligent.

(See the previous responses.)

Of course it could be true and the context you give makes it possible.

I still wonder, however, how you can get men to risk their lives if they see you kill someone who already did so and was wounded? Maybe by brute intimidation. Maybe. But will you ever feel comfortable turning your back on on the man's fellow soldiers? Some were probably close friends.

Knowing one's enemies, always a good thing, gets problematic if you exaggerate or minimize his qualities as well as his abilities.

(Do you know about the credibility of Reddit?)

[brush]

36. Good points. Well stated.

[lpbk2713]

12. Putin thinks a field hospital will reduce a unit's mobility.

And he would prefer to spend his money on gasoline and bullets rather than medical care.

[erronis]

17. Nah. His money is going into hidey-holes far away from the charred remains of russia.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. Authoritarian cultures don't value lives much, externally or internally. They value the leader. .nt

[keithbvadu2]

38. Rafael Cruz, who never served, bragged about the Russian army while denigrating our American army.

Rafael Cruz, who never served, bragged about the Russian army while denigrating our American army.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

39. Who is surprised by this?

It is no wonder why Russian troop morale is so low