After the partial mobilization, the Russian troops lack training, equipment and cohesion. An analysis by the ISW now reveals how the Russians are apparently being sent to the front without a plan.
Despite the propaganda, the public in Russia is becoming more and more aware of the real status of the “special operation” in Ukraine. The obviously inadequate preparation and equipment of the mobilized units led to criticism of the Russian military leadership. An analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reveals the chaotic state of Russian troops.
According to pro-war military bloggers, the Russian armed forces are said to be lacking the promised training, equipment, unit cohesion and commanders, according to the renowned US institute. This would eventually lead to a high number of dead and wounded soldiers.
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Russian military bloggers report that the commander of the southern military district, Mikhail Zusko, ordered the immediate dispatch of newly mobilized soldiers from the western military district to the Kreminna-Svatove line. For the western military district, however, Zusko does not have permission to issue orders, according to the ISW. In addition, the soldiers had not received any combat training.
Previously, Ukrainian media had reported that the Kremlin had arrested the commander due to heavy combat casualties. According to the analysis, it is unclear to the Kremlin why Zusko issued orders for a unit within the western military district.
Apparently, this chaos had dire consequences. In an attempt to reach the front line, the mobilized unit came under heavy artillery fire. After that, half of the mobilized soldiers were wounded and taken to a hospital, military bloggers report.
The military bloggers are not surprised at the high number of wounded: the regiment received no military command, no orders and no supplies. There is no trace of a military strategy among the Russian units. The other half of the unit would continue fighting on the Svatove front under the chaotic conditions, according to the ISW.
Another military blogger observed the coffins of mobilized soldiers arriving in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk and eventually claimed that many men simply surrendered to Ukrainian forces. According to the ISW, the reports of the Russian military bloggers show the haphazard deployment of just mobilized Russian men. The abilities of the men are not mentioned loudly: men with military experience are arbitrarily assigned to units that do not correspond to their abilities.
According to the military bloggers, the Russian Ministry of Defense is responsible for this, which has not created appropriate conditions for the integration and monitoring of the deployment of mobilized Russians at the front.
The Russian army would also face increasing bureaucratic problems. Accordingly, mobilized men would be distributed to different units without properly documenting their locations at the front, according to the ISW. Families would have complained to the military leadership about the lack of operational planning at the front.
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This has been heavily criticized by Russian military bloggers: the inability of the Russian Defense Ministry to properly keep families informed of the whereabouts of their loved ones could lead to mothers and wives forming human rights groups that “divide Russia from within,” says the The high number and persistence of the complaints support the assessment that Putin’s mobilization campaign will not produce enough capable Russian soldiers to influence the course of the war in the short term.