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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPutin's War
A Times investigation based on interviews, intercepts, documents and secret battle plans shows how a walk in the park became a catastrophe for Russia
They never had a chance.
Fumbling blindly through cratered farms, the troops from Russias 155th Naval Infantry Brigade had no maps, medical kits or working walkie-talkies, they said. Just a few weeks earlier, they had been factory workers and truck drivers, watching an endless showcase of supposed Russian military victories at home on state television before being drafted in September. One medic was a former barista who had never had any medical training.
Now, they were piled onto the tops of overcrowded armored vehicles, lumbering through fallow autumn fields with Kalashnikov rifles from half a century ago and virtually nothing to eat, they said. Russia had been at war most of the year, yet its army seemed less prepared than ever. In interviews, members of the brigade said some of them had barely fired a gun before and described having almost no bullets anyway, let alone air cover or artillery. But it didnt frighten them too much, they said. They would never see combat, their commanders had promised.
Only when the shells began crashing around them, ripping their comrades to pieces, did they realize how badly they had been duped.
Flung to the ground, a drafted Russian soldier named Mikhail recalled opening his eyes to a shock: the shredded bodies of his comrades littering the field. Shrapnel had sliced open his belly, too. Desperate to escape, he said, he crawled to a thicket of trees and tried to dig a ditch with his hands.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/16/world/europe/russia-putin-war-failures-ukraine.html
They never had a chance.
Fumbling blindly through cratered farms, the troops from Russias 155th Naval Infantry Brigade had no maps, medical kits or working walkie-talkies, they said. Just a few weeks earlier, they had been factory workers and truck drivers, watching an endless showcase of supposed Russian military victories at home on state television before being drafted in September. One medic was a former barista who had never had any medical training.
Now, they were piled onto the tops of overcrowded armored vehicles, lumbering through fallow autumn fields with Kalashnikov rifles from half a century ago and virtually nothing to eat, they said. Russia had been at war most of the year, yet its army seemed less prepared than ever. In interviews, members of the brigade said some of them had barely fired a gun before and described having almost no bullets anyway, let alone air cover or artillery. But it didnt frighten them too much, they said. They would never see combat, their commanders had promised.
Only when the shells began crashing around them, ripping their comrades to pieces, did they realize how badly they had been duped.
Flung to the ground, a drafted Russian soldier named Mikhail recalled opening his eyes to a shock: the shredded bodies of his comrades littering the field. Shrapnel had sliced open his belly, too. Desperate to escape, he said, he crawled to a thicket of trees and tried to dig a ditch with his hands.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/16/world/europe/russia-putin-war-failures-ukraine.html
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Putin's War (Original Post)
brooklynite
Dec 2022
OP
Cha
(297,935 posts)1. Thank Goodness!! That's
What Supports of 🇺🇦 & Democracy loving people everywhere were Hoping for!!💙🇺🇸🕊🕯
NJCher
(35,807 posts)2. this is incredibly sad
the graphic presentation is excellent.
brewens
(13,645 posts)3. It will get way worse. I'm pretty sure the Ukrainians can spot any heat source. If it's not already,
when it gets extremely cold, those guys might start freezing in their holes. Any warm building or field kitchen will get hit if it's spotted.
erronis
(15,429 posts)4. I'm working my way through this excellent presentaion. Thank you for posting. And Slava Ukraine!