1/ Russian conscripts stationed in the rear in western Crimea say they are suffering heavy casualties from Ukraine's mid-strike drone campaign. Their situation is exacerbated by severe logistical problems, including a lack of effective weapons or ammunition. ⬇️
2/ A video posted on Russian social media by Georgy Dmitrievich Lobanov, a conscript soldier serving with the 810th Separate Guards Marine Brigade (military unit 13140), illustrates the dire conditions that Russian soldiers are facing as the Ukrainian campaign continues. 3/ In contrast to the annexed Donbas region and the occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine, where Russian conscripts do not serve, they do serve in Crimea, which was annexed to Russia in 2014. As elsewhere, they are poorly treated. 4/ Lobanov says: "A shitload of conscripts are dying. We have five 300s [wounded] here, guys, during my service. One guy died right in front of me, fuck, his fucking arm was hanging by a thread, fuck." 5/ He says that his unit is stationed at a facility near Yevpatoriya which is regularly hit by drone strikes, causing casualties. He also says that a strike on a motorised rifle unit caused deaths and injuries among the conscripts: 6/ "Two missiles hit the motorised riflemen here recently, basically. They hit the barracks and the equipment hangar. There were, fuck, two BMPs standing there or something, fuck. Yeah, that’s where the damage was. There were three 200s [killed], and seven 300s." 7/ He also claims that the unit lacks the weapons and ammunition it needs to engage aerial targets effectively: 8/ "They issued us, fuck, RPDs [7.62x39mm light machine guns], from 1951 ... I have the only barrel with a thermal imager, fuck, and all the guys are shooting at my tracers. And I don't have any tracers right now." 9/ Lobanov says that because supplies are so scarce, the soldiers have to buy their own equipment, and even their drinking water is being rationed severely: 10/ "I’m doing my compulsory military service, and I fucking bought my own bulletproof vest, fuck. What the fuck is this? ... They’ve signed a fucking decree in our battalion that we’re only allowed a fucking litre of water a day, fuck." 11/ While the conscripts in Crimea are apparently only being used for defensive duties, mobilised soldiers aren't so lucky. They are being sent to support Russia's cross-border incursions in north-eastern Ukraine despite being injured: 12/ "They sent all the mobiks, wounded or not, whatever, fuck, everyone, let's go. Everyone to Kursk, yeah. Those guys, fuck, even ones with missing heels, those with three or four toes missing—fuck it, it’s all shit, they’re sending them off anyway." 13/ Meanwhile, FPV drone operators are being punished by being sent to die in assault squads if they lose drones: "The FPV guys themselves say: I lost five or six drones there—that's it, off to the assault, fuck." /end Source: t.me
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