Pentagon official says Russian troops have 'deliberately punched holes' in their own gas tanks 'pres

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Business Insider

'presumably' to avoid combat as morale declines: report

Some Russian troops have "deliberately punched holes in their vehicles' gas tanks" as morale among the Russians declines, a senior US official said.

The troops appear to be self-sabotaging in order to avoid combat, the unnamed senior Pentagon official said, per The New York Times. The official added that many of the Russian troops are young and inexperienced in combat, and they are facing dwindling food and fuel resources.

Tuesday marks day six of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, prompting protests across the world, including in Russia. Explosions have rocked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, as well as Ukraine's second-biggest city, Kharkiv, since Russia invaded the region.

As morale drops, some of the Russian troops have surrendered to Ukrainian forces "without a fight," a US senior defense official told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pentagon-official-says-russian-troops-have-deliberately-punched-holes-in-their-own-gas-tanks-presumably-to-avoid-combat-as-morale-declines-report/ar-AAUu2sH

[Walleye]

1. A little sugar in each of their gas tanks ought to work

[RockCreek]

13. If they punch the holes once in Ukraine

If they punch the holes once in Ukraine, they may have repurposing in mind. I think that it's easier to fix a hole than a sugared engine. With just a hole, the Ukranian army can fix the vehicle for their own use.

[dhol82]

18. Good point.

[Walleye]

19. Well that is encouraging

[lagomorph777]

44. My thought exactly.

[Aussie105]

27. Sugar doesn't dissolve in petrol or Diesel.

It will just sit in the bottom of the fuel tank.

It needs a polar molecule like water as a solvent.

Google it!

[Slammer]

51. elf needs food badly

Since they don't have food, they'd probably eat sugar if they had it.

Punching holes is less costly.

[Irish_Dem]

2. What if they gave a war and no one came?

[Jazz Jon]

11. Brilliant!

I have always wondered how dictators do it. They are just one weak person, but they make the whole world do what they say.

War? Just say no thank you. Nobody is going.

[Irish_Dem]

12. I know, one insane power hungry person can make the whole world go to war.

Troops are trained to follow orders, do what they are told.
Not to question right or wrong. Just do it.

Right what if troops said no.
Not killing those women and children, not going to do it.

[Aristus]

43. Not American troops. At least, not when I was in.

Late 80’s, early 90’s.

In Basic Training, we had an entire afternoon of classes called “Role Of The Army.” Among many other aspects of military life, we were taught the difference between lawful and unlawful orders. We were also told that if we were given an unlawful order, we had a legal, moral, and ethical duty to disobey that order.

Things may have changed since I got out. Atrocities happen; there’s no denying that. Maybe after 9/11, they ditched Role Of The Army and just said “Yeah, torture or kill whomever you want”. It would sure speak to the ugliness that descended upon the U.S. after 9/11.

[Irish_Dem]

47. Yes things changed after 9/11.

Even US military psychologists bound by strict ethical codes helped invent horrendous torture techniques and got away with it.

[Sgent]

49. They still do that

and hopefully, you get a few privates that refuse to participate in the next Me-Li massacre, and even more hopefully they don't get fragged by their own platoon.

From a private's (or sergeant's) perspective there is nothing illegal about following the order to encircle Kyiv. Firing on civilians would be different, but in the US Army sabotaging your fuel tanks would be punished regardless of what happened to the General / President 5 years later for fighting an unlawful war.

[mysteryowl]

3. I believe it. They thought they were doing exercises.

Realizing what is going on must be a mind-blower to them.

[mpcamb]

10. A lifted middle finger to Putin...

That said, I fear for the protesters in Russia and it's satillites.
I remember pictures of a Hungarian kid dropping a hand grenade into a tank
and then the other shoe dropped.
Russia steamrolled it's way thru Budapest.

[TeamProg]

5. Sweet !

[AlexSFCA]

6. Ukrainians are so smart - showing how well those who surrender are treated

it is working, troops do communicate. I believe Russia has rather small professional army and majority is conscripts. Not to mention that putin may have decided to send mostly young conscripts to this war as many will die.

[fierywoman]

15. And a lot of these guys have phones -- so they can communicate with each other and do social media..

[csziggy]

25. I heard a report last week all phones were being taken away from the Russian troops

So they may not be able to share the information about how to resist.

Found one link - their source is Russian:

Russia Used Beatings and Tricks to Forcibly Send Rookie Troops to Ukraine, Rights Group Says
Allison Quinn, News Editor
Updated Feb. 24, 2022 2:45PM ET / Published Feb. 24, 2022 2:11PM ET

Russian soldiers from all across the country were deceived into heading to the Ukrainian border, and some were beaten if they resisted, according to the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers, a Russian non-governmental organization that works to expose human rights violations within the military.

The group is reportedly preparing a complaint for the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office alleging that their sons only recently joined the military as conscripts and were told they were going to the border with Ukraine for drills. But their statuses were then abruptly changed to contract soldiers— a role for those with more combat and training experience—and they were suddenly thrust into war.

“They are switching entire regiments to contract [soldiers,] although the guys did not submit any formal requests for this, and took no such initiative. There are instances of physical violence, and beatings of those who refuse to become contract soldiers. And after that it’s completely unknown [what happens to them], because they take away their phones,” Andrei Kurochkin, the deputy chairman of the group, told Takie Dela.

“We've had a flurry of calls from scared mothers all over Russia. They are crying, they don’t know if their children are alive or healthy,” he was quoted saying, adding that it’s a “complete catastrophe” when military service is performed “under duress.”

More: https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia-used-beatings-and-tricks-to-forcibly-send-soldiers-to-ukraine-human-rights-group-says

[lagomorph777]

45. That only works until they are out of your line of sight.

Then they poke holes in the gas tanks and surrender.

Costly mistake to send these kids in.

[csziggy]

48. Yes, plus I have seen video of captured Russian soldiers

After the Ukrainians berated them, they gave them phones so they can call home. One video was of a very young man who was crying as he was being harangued, then again as he called his mother to let her know he was alive and where he was. She was appalled that he was in Ukraine and it seemed as though she did not know any Russian troops had been sent there.

I hope Russia/Putin will be held accountable for their treatment of their own troops as well as this invasion of Ukraine.

[Sapient Donkey]

36. They are doing amazing with the information warfare aspect

It doesn't hurt that they are totally sympathetic victims in this and there isn't anything sympathetic about Putin. People feel bad for the Russian cannon fodder, but anyone who isn't an illiberal authoritarian defender has no love for Putin.

[Deminpenn]

41. Think I heard someone yesterday say, the Russian

army is only about 30% conscripts, but they are probably the ones on or being sent to the front lines.

[Warpy]

7. Putin amd the oligarchy would do well to reflect that

the last time an army of poorly trained, poorly supplied, and wretchedly commanded conscripts revolted and went home was 1917.

We know how that turned out for the power structure then, don't we boys?

I would hope it turns out better this time, the tragedy of Russia as always been the mistrust of all its leaders in its people.

Maybe this time we can do better than sending them a bunch of libertarian MBA types.

[Crowman2009]

40. Well we don't have to go that far back in history, Romania in 1989 for example.

Wonder if Putin will wind up like Ceauçescu?

[lagomorph777]

46. Or Hitler, Mussolini, Caesar, ...

It's a common pattern through history.

[FakeNoose]

8. Smart thinking, guys!

[jalan48]

9. Fighting to protect rich people? The oligarch's are going to need mercenaries.

[monkeyman1]

22. Kremlin sent 400 of them & are now dead !!

[Orrex]

26. Occupational hazard

[Sapient Donkey]

37. Wagner Group?

[Hav]

14. Looks like those young people

don't want to die in a war they don't believe in

[Torchlight]

17. With moral that bad

it's not beyond the realm of my imagination that Putin (eventually) gets the Milosevic treatment.

I'm not seeing much in the way of verifiable reporting of how the average Russian is feeling right about now, but the few things I have read/watched (Russian vloggers for the most part- take it as you will) all point to a singular frustration and general impatience by the Russian people. If Putin loses the support of the people, that's close to calling the game.

Hell, Nicolae Ceausescu was on top of the world, until he wasn't.

[LiberalLovinLug]

24. It would be great if the fallout was Putin forced out of office.

Of course, I wouldn't trust any of his successors either.

But if it got to the Russian people demanding a democratic election including Navalny, complete with international observers, now we're talking!

[onetexan]

38. One good successor wld be aLexei navalny

[Karadeniz]

20. Remember that saying from our hippy days? "What if they had a war and nobody came?"

[ffr]

30. Key word, they.

I see what you did there.

[BlueWavePsych]

21. We couldn't reach the front since we ran out of gas.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

23. I was just wondering if defecting could be an option?

[fierywoman]

31. I read Ukraine has beeen offering them asylum and food and money and the ability to

call their mothers!

[Aussie105]

28. Standard procedure in any land war.

You send in your expendable troops first.

Just to test the waters, and judge how much resistance there is.

If the locals don't cheer and wave Russian flags when they see those troops, you send in your seriously capable troops.

So don't get too confident, Ukrainians.

I'm sure Russia has plenty of seasoned fighters from previous recent wars available.

[ck4829]

33. I think their recent wars were against insurgents at best though

Even relying on them being seasoned will only get Russia so far.

[Bayard]

34. I believe those are called, "cannon fodder"

"Pawns," also works.

[ffr]

29. Those Russian troops who are doing this deserve recognition for perhaps saving Earth from holocaust

[Warpy]

32. Probably .22 rifle holes from Ukrainian defenders

trying to turn the highways in Ukraine into the world's biggest parking lots.

It's what I'd do if I could hit anything with a firearm, which I can't.

Not sure the average Russian conscript is thinking that way. He'd be afraid to get ratted out by his buddies.

And no, bullets into gas tanks don't make anything go boom, Mythbusters did that one more than once. It would take tracer bullets and a nearly empty tank full of fumes. Liquid fuel just leaks out.

[Sgent]

50. Especially

diesel which is what everything not flying in the military runs on.

[Sapient Donkey]

35. Couldn't that also be that they ran out of fuel and before they abandoned it they did some minor

sabotage to make it more difficult for some Ukrainians stop by with a fuel truck and get a few nice shiny Russian vehicles?

[Crowman2009]

39. It appears that Pooty Poot is not as popular as he makes it out to be.

This isn't the Red Army of yesterday. More like the failed Russian Army of Tsar Nicholas II.

[The Jungle 1]

42. The russian people have no cause to fight this war.

There is no threat to russia. The soldiers are expected to fight for a rich man's wallet. I expect that the soldiers will not fight with much passion.