Nov 22, 2023
Anger and unease among Russian soldiers is growing along the increasingly contested front lines in Ukraine’s Kherson region, new footage appears to suggest, as confidence in Moscow’s military slips.
In a clip widely circulating on social media, a soldier who appears to be a Russian marine deployed around the Kherson village of Krynky criticized his superiors, telling the camera: “No idea what the commanders are doing.”
“It’s all s***,” the soldier continued, then quoting another unnamed Russian soldier as saying: “Ukrainians have three drones for each one of ours.”
“This is very bad and very sad,” the soldier added in the video translated by the @wartranslated account on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which monitors the war in Ukraine.
Low morale, high casualty counts and problems with the chain of command have plagued Russian forces in Ukraine throughout the 21-month-old war, Western analysts have long said.ย Newsweekย has not been able to independently verify the details of this clip, and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
Positions of soldiers “change all the time,” the soldier said. “Everything is happening in the most f*****-up way. Nothing is clear, and it’s all bad.” Wounded Russian soldiers who have not recovered from their injuries are being sent into active operations, he added.
Reports suggest the soldier in the video may belong to Russia’s 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said on Tuesday, adding other complaints from soldiers around Krynky have been publicized in the past few days.
This comes as new polling suggests Russian citizens have lost some of their confidence in Moscow’s military as the war heads for its second full winter season.
On Tuesday, U.S. analytics and polling firm Gallup found that three quarters of Russians interviewed over the country’s summer season expressed confidence in Moscow’s military. The polling showed a decrease in confidence from the 80 percent registered in the early stages of what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Some prominent military bloggers and ultranationalist voices have made clear their reservations about Moscow’s commanders throughout the war, “which may have impacted how certain Russians who closely monitor the progress of the war feel about trusting theย Russian military,” the ISW said on Tuesday.
Ukraine made sweeping gains in Kherson in its first counteroffensive in late 2022, pushing Russian forces back to the east bank of the Dnieper River that has roughly marked the front lines in the region throughout 2023. Kyiv’s forces has been whittling away at Russian defenses on the east bank, establishing pockets of control in villages such as Krynky.
“Our soldiers continue to hold occupied positions on the left bank of the Dnieper, lead a counterbattery fight [and] inflict a fire impact on the rear of the enemy,” the General Staff of Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday.
Russian military bloggers “complain that Russian forces are unable to suppress Ukrainian operations in the area,” the ISW said in its latest analysis.
We’ve been hearing such reports right from the beginning of this war. Things for them has not changed. It’s even gotten worse. They will never learn if they haven’t done so in 21 months of war. I think we can agree that the roach army ranks as one of the world’s worst. It only has massive quantities but virtually no quality. Then to think that three-quarters of ruskies have confidence in such a military makes you wonder if three-quarters of the ruskie population is on drugs or are just plain zombies.
if someone drowns in front of a whole group, they are more likely to die, because everyone in the group says “there is someone who will go and help him”…
I wonder to what extent , group effects harm their survival instinct and intelligence. as in addition they know that a lot of their ecosystem is hypocrisy, lies, corruption, you can rely on nothing, they must be like sheep in a perpetual earthquake…
to learn and progress a good proportion of soldiers must survive, cannon fodder rarely improves.
Very true, Mr. lorangebleue.
I would wish Newsweek and other journals would get it straight. Weโre not in Russia, weโre in Ukraine ๐บ๐ฆ. Get rid of the ruskie spelling of OUR river. Itโs called the Dnipro in Ukraine not Dnieper. Get the spelling right Newsweek. I know this is petty but it bugs me. Eliminate the Russification crap.
ะกะปะฐะฒะฐ ะฃะบัะฐัะฝะฐ ๐บ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ
I know that sometimes source and translation have city names and places that come across russified.
No, it’s not petty that you find this objectionable Sir CapW, it bugs me too.๐บ๐ฆ๐ช
Happy Thanksgiving to those in the States. ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฆ
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and everyone here. It is celebrated more and more in Ukraine too.
About the language, we have seen vast improvements the last 20 years, I think its remarkable. Still, if you need to translate something it is usually better with the ruZZki translation but then you have to correct the cities, etc.
You’re right, Sir Cap. Another thing that also bugs me is calling Dnipro its old Soviet name Dnepropetrovsk.
Yeah. Dnipro is far easier to pronounce too. ๐
The funny thing is, not long after I learned how to say it flawlessly, the name was changed. ๐๐
Copy that, lol