DISINFO: Russia advances slowly in Ukraine to preserve the lives of its soldiers
SUMMARY
The counteroffensive failed and Russia's plan is to conduct a war of attrition. The leitmotiv of the Russian army is to preserve the lives of its soldiers. It was always the case, from the Napoleonic wars, WWI and WWII. The invaders get massacred when they leave Russian soil.
Today in the new Russian oblasts, Russia carries out a war of attrition and preserves the lives of its soldiers and of the Ukrainian soldiers who are ready to surrender.
RESPONSE
Disinformation narrative about Russian superiority, an army sparing its men, and treating prisoners of war with consideration.
Human losses in Russian army have not been communicated since September 2022. The independent organization Zona.media counted 33 904 death of Russian soldiers confirmed by open sources on 6 October 2023 and + 1 248 over the ensuing two weeks.
Several newspapers of record, including The Financial Times, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal cited experts and officials as saying that minimising losses and avoiding unnecessary risks has been a strategic priority for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Russian military, on the other hand, has been known to repeatedly launch reckless "human wave attacks," often using poorly trained and equipped personnel, resulting in mass casualties.
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies describe them in such a way:
Russia’s disposable infantry should be considered fundamentally different and are drawn from three principal sources: conscripts from the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (heavily attritioned from early rounds of fighting); prisoners drafted by the Wagner Group; and under- trained mobilised Russian civilians. These troops were originally formed into companies of approximately 60 people, 8 but have since been broken down into platoons of approximately 15. They are issued with small arms. Ukrainian troops report that they often appear to be under the influence of amphetamines or other narcotic substances, with material recovered from the battlefield indicating that these are commonly taken in liquid form.
Overall, the sparing the life of its soldiers is not the highest priority of the Russian army as demonstrated the assault on Avdiivka in the beginning of October.
Ukrainian prisoners of war were not treated decently by Russian forces, they were denied some rights, and were victims of bad treatment and torture. Some liberated prisoners were extremely skinny and suffered from different pathologies.
Read related stories such as: EU knows Russia is winning its special operation, Russian army prioritises its soldiers' lives while Ukraine sends its troops to slaughter.