Putin's war grows 'catastrophic' as he recently deployed a unit 'with no food and no socks'

[Demovictory9]

https://www.rawstory.com/russia-ukraine-war-2658779646


Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is growing more "catastrophic" for the Russian military, which has been losing territory in the country for the past several months.


In an interview with The Daily Beast, United Kingdom Defense Secretary Ben Wallace outlined just how poorly things are going for Russia while also urging the Ukrainian military to keep pressing and maximize its advantages.

"A Russian unit was recently deployed with no food and no socks, and not many guns," Wallace told the publication. "That is catastrophic for a person going in the field... The Russians have scale, but are not very good. Well, most of the good ones are dead."

Wallace went on to describe the Russian strategy as being one giant "meat grinder" and he argued that "only a nation that does not care for its own people could send 100,000 of its own people to be either dead, injured, or deserted."

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Ruzzian mothers do not want their sons treated this way. . . . nt

[Crunchy Frog]

7. .

[republianmushroom]

2. Tsk Tsk

[Lovie777]

3. And Russians are still leaving Russia ....

the young ones

[Pluvious]

19. It's ironic, Putin wanted to re-establish the USSR...

… and he did it for the people’s standard of living

Link to tweet

[The Unmitigated Gall]

4. No clearer demonstration...

Of the superiority of kleptocratic dictatorship.

[musclecar6]

5. Madeline Albright

Said it best when describing Putin. Reptilian. A psychopath, just like our favorite Con man, liar and a cheat.

[Crunchy Frog]

6. They seem to be using their mobiks simply to soak up Ukrainian ammo.

I think they may have pursued the same strategy at Stalingrad, but I'm not sure that they have the demographics to sustain it in the present day.

In case anyone wonders why they lost so many soldiers in WWII, this sort of thing should give you a clue.

[littlewolf]

8. in WWII if you tried to retreat or run away they had

machine guns behind you and they wud shoot you.
so you could die with a nazi bullet in your head chest or gut
or a Russian bullet in your back...

[EX500rider]

9. "It took a brave man to be a coward in Stalin's army"

[COL Mustard]

35. Shtrafbats.

The Germans had them too if I recall correctly (no I wasn't there).

[malthaussen]

14. Human wave attacks work... until you run out of humans. n/t

[Pluvious]

21. The Iranians used waves of children, with wooden fake rifles

Russia isn’t looking much better at this point…

[Model35mech]

10. Polyanki aka footwraps are a thing for Russian recruits

Part of learning how to be Russian soldiers. So I'm not sure the no sock thing is a problem.

Going into battle without rifles, ammunition, or food is a problem.

[DFW]

24. They were better off when this was the only kind of Polyanka

I was in the University of Pennsylvania Balalaika Orchestra 50 years ago, and we would put on shows like this twice a year. It was the Soviet era, but it was OK to be Russian back then.

These days, it has deteriorated to this:

[Demovictory9]

25. Were you dancer or musician

[DFW]

27. Musician

Balalaika player

[Model35mech]

28. Memory can be hell on spelling... it is portyanki

In the way-back there was a 60 minutes segment on life as a Russian conscript.

I almost but didn't remember the word.

At the time, in that way-back it made an impression as I had been viewing Russian paintings of the Napoleonic campaign into Russia. Apparently not enough of an impression to remember it correctly.

But, the point I wanted to get across, now lost, is that a lack of socks could be something other than a logistical problem. It could just be what Russians expect their conscripts to know.

[Moosepoop]

32. They USED to be a thing...

But Russia discontinued the footwraps in the period between 2008-2013, in favor of socks.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/jan/16/russian-soldiers-replacing-foot-wraps-socks

https://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/portyanki/

It took at least a month of training to learn how to properly wrap and wear them. Even if they were still in use today, or if the Russian military had reverted back to them recently, I don't think the current conscripts are given much time and training before being sent out.

Lack of socks in the winter really is right up there with lack of food and arms, imo.

[Model35mech]

33. Yah, at my age, much of what I sort of remember would be obsolete

even if I remember it.

[Raine]

11. Putin's "great" plan for getting the old empire back together

in a long weekend. What could go wrong .... lol EVERYTHING!!!

[Crowman2009]

15. Coincidentally it's falling apart like the old empire in the first world war.

[NickB79]

12. It's currently 45F in Kherson

Socks would be pretty important right now

[malthaussen]

13. Infantry with no socks. That'll play well.

Ah, who cares about foot care, they're just there to die.

-- Mal

[Crowman2009]

17. Usually the only thing lacking in my Iraq deployment was beer and nude magazines.

Food and socks were readily available.

[yagotme]

16. I have believed for years that the Russian army

is/was a paper tiger. The first frontline forces may be good, but there was no real depth to their replacement pool. Win the battle right away, or be cannon fodder. I believe relying on their nuke force was their primary battle plan.

[jmowreader]

22. Speaking from experience...

…their frontline forces weren’t good either. You are quite correct that if the shit hit the fan the plan was to go straight to nukes.

[yagotme]

23. "Good" being comparable.

Their specialized units were supposedly top notch, and some of their first line combat units. Not all, some. Hard part is getting the top notch troops to the hot spot while the second string is trying to contain the enemy. Of course, a lot of their info was straight propaganda, and there's a lot of chaff in that wheat.

[GregariousGroundhog]

39. Indeed, Russia had a handful of well trained and well equipped units

Soviet doctrine was to have a handful of first echelon well standing units that were well trained and well equipped, to have a larger number of second echelon units that were staffed maybe 1/2 or 2/3 full and to complete them with reservists during times of need, and to have an even larger number of units of third echelon units units staffed with roughly 1/4 or 1/3 of their full complement. The 3rd echelon units were basically stockpiles of equipment maintained by skeleton crews and meant to be brought up to strength by conscripts during a period of general mobilization.

Russia took steps toward moving toward a fully professional army and that allowed them to decrease the required military service from two years down to one and to increase the amount of waivers they offer, but Russia never managed to recruit enough volunteers to quite get to the that end state and end conscription completely. The units staffed fully by professional soldiers took heavy losses in the ill-advised thunder-runs to Kyiv and Kharkiv, and in the operations to successfully capture Melitopol and Sievierodonetsk.

At this point, Russia has to fight the remainder of the conflict with second-string and third-string units. Many of these units are composed of people who largely have no desire to serve in the military and led by incompetent and/or corrupt officers.

[lpbk2713]

18. Pillaging will become routine.

As they move into an area they will ransack homes and
small businesses and steal what they can make use of.

[BannonsLiver]

20. That's been the routine since Day 1 of this war

Would not be a new development.

[Martin68]

26. I suspect open mutiny is coming soon. At least I hope so...

[3auld6phart]

31. 'Mutiny

Definitely not unheard of .Russian Navy losers in 1905/06 — Sino Russian scrap
1917 Russian Army mutiny. 39/ 45 war at the start surrendered almost encase
Their thinking that Germany was far better than a** hole Stalin’s living conditions

[marble falls]

29. "only a nation that does not care for its own people could send 100,000 of its own people to be ...

... either dead, injured, or deserted."

[KY_EnviroGuy]

30. Putin doesn't want the grunts tempted to eat their socks.

Besides, it will also make them far more likely to rob and pillage the poor Ukrainians.

Just thinking today I wish I could send my garage kerosene heater to some Ukrainian family.


KY....
.
.
.

[nolabear]

34. And winter's just beginning.

They’re hoping to starve and freeze Ukrainians but they’re so much more vulnerable.

[LudwigPastorius]

36. "Putin...recently deployed a unit 'with no food and no socks' "

Awww. The least he could do would be to give them sunflower seeds for their pockets.

[grantcart]

37. Reports are they are refitting old cruise missles as they are running out of

Long range artillery shells.

[DemocraticPatriot]

38. Putin needs an "out"...

so that he can "declare victory" and withdraw....



(I recall a very old Doonesbury cartoon from the 1970s, where one character said about Vietnam,
'so let's declare victory and get out!' lol)