1/ Mobilised Russians are stoically enduring appalling conditions on the front lines in Ukraine, without food or water and with endemic theft of their supplies and equipment by their own side. Meanwhile, many of their wives are afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation. ⬇️
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:31:26 JST ChrisO_wiki -
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:13 JST ChrisO_wiki 8/ "My husband said that it was only there that he understood what bread was," Tatyana says. Bread and water are "worth its weight in gold" and are rationed because of the lack of supplies. "They will be thrown to the front line for two or three weeks, and survive as you will."
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:13 JST ChrisO_wiki 9/ A great many don't survive. According to Tatyana, out of 300 men in her husband's unit, all but 18 were killed, injured or went missing in only three months – a 94% casualty rate. The men are not rotated but are kept at the front until they die or are too injured to fight.
HistoPol (#HP) 🥥 🌴 repeated this. -
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:13 JST ChrisO_wiki 10/ Tatyana says: "After the first mission, the survivors were promised rest from two weeks to 45 days, but they were deceived. After just four days, they were sent to the front line for three weeks. And without any technology at all.
"All the equipment [armour] was bombed in the first battle, and they still can't find the crewmen. No body - no case. The family will receive nothing."
HistoPol (#HP) 🥥 🌴 repeated this. -
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:14 JST ChrisO_wiki 6/ "He got into a sleeping bag that he brought from home, climbed into the body bag, zipped himself up, put a tube in his mouth and stuck it out through the slit so that he could breathe.
"They don't get anything out there. No gloves, no warm underwear, no ammunition. They didn't even give them shovels. But they did give them body bags."
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:14 JST ChrisO_wiki 7/ Theft and supply problems also affect parcels of 'humanitarian aid' sent from home to the front line. Only two such parcels have reached Sergei since July. The soldiers have to rely on medicines and medical supplies sent from home, as there is nothing at the front line.
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:15 JST ChrisO_wiki 4/ "One guy had his warm tactical gloves stolen while he was on parade. Another guy's rucksack went missing with a new warm suit while he was on a mission. He came back from combat alive, but the rucksack was gone. He asked where it was, and they told him it had been burnt.
"My husband had the same thing. He went on a mission, and when he came back, it was gone. Everything was stolen. Warm, good, woollen socks. The shaver I gave him. He kept it safe all the time."
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:15 JST ChrisO_wiki 5/ "And some people had their phones and money stolen on the trains when they were on their way to their unit. Some of them are still out of touch. You'd think they'd all work together, and then this happens. Their own stealing from their own. How can this be?"
When the men got to the front line they lacked even shovels.
"They just dropped them off in an empty field and let them do what they wanted. So my husband slept in a body bag."
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:16 JST ChrisO_wiki 2/ A report by Radio Free Europe highlights the experiences of mobilised Russians fighting in Ukraine through the accounts of two families, one from north-west Russia and the other from the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals at the far eastern edge of Europe.
Tatyana is the wife of a contract soldier named Sergei, who went to war voluntarily last July. She says that most Russian soldiers are, like her husband, simply looking to earn money to support their families and pay off their mortgages.
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:16 JST ChrisO_wiki 3/ "No one is fighting for the Motherland now," she says. "No matter who you ask, everyone goes there to improve the well-being of their family." Sergei is earning 200,000 rubles ($2,210) a month, three times his former civilian salary.
However, much of the initial recruitment bonus was used up buying personal equipment at inflated prices. The soldiers also have to deal with endemic theft of their personal effects by their fellow soldiers, as Tatyana explains.
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:23 JST ChrisO_wiki 11/ "One of my husband’s colleagues has shrapnel in his head, another has torn knee ligaments, someone’s arms are broken, one can't bend his back, and another can't see. And there are also all sorts of related diseases. Prostatitis, hemorrhoids, pneumonia. It's constant pain."
HistoPol (#HP) 🥥 🌴 repeated this. -
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 18:32:27 JST ChrisO_wiki 12/ "Some people have incontinence because of prostate inflammation. But they don't even send you to rehab for your wounds. Soldiers write reports, and their superiors just tear them up. They say you're a fuckup, not a report. Commanders want to send them to the front line again."
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 23:59:51 JST ChrisO_wiki 14/ Despite their difficulties, the soldiers are nonetheless determined to continue fighting and believe the propaganda that they are defending Russia. Tatyana says that "nobody's going anywhere. They're all willing to move on. And they will move on. Because they are men."
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ChrisO_wiki (chriso_wiki@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jan-2024 23:59:52 JST ChrisO_wiki 13/ "I consulted a lawyer, asking what to do? He said just fall down and say that you can't go. But there you can fall down or not fall down. They'd lift you up, throw you in a vehicle and take you to the front line. My husband says they take them out like meat. He says that if they are sent on a mission again in such a state, it will definitely be his last trip."
HistoPol (#HP) 🥥 🌴 repeated this.
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