Russian soldiers suffering from low morale, left to ‘die for nothing’ in Ukraine

Several videos have recently surfaced on social media showing complaints from Russian troops who were drafted for Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. They claim they have not received adequate training and have been treated poorly. Many Russian soldiers are said to be suffering from low morale, especially after Putin announced a partial mobilisation in September. The mobilisation was widely regarded as botched, with many anecdotes of infirm and older recruits being called up in error and having to buy their own equipment.

In one video, a soldier standing in front of his uniformed comrades in a dimly-lit room speaks to the camera. He claims that they were drafted into the Belgorod region territorial defence brigade and stationed in Shebekino, a town in the Russian region bordering Ukraine. They were then transferred to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in Ukraine, where they were told to "storm villages," seemingly "without orders or explanations".

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The soldier complains about the lack of equipment, communications, intelligence, and maps of the area, and refused to carry out the assigned tasks due to the heavy losses. His fellow soldiers want to continue serving, but only as part of Russia's armed forces.

Another video shows draftees from Russia's Orenburg region complaining that the militia of the DPR had been sending them to the frontlines as cannon fodder. In the video, one man addresses Putin, saying they were told they would be involved in territorial defence but were instead sent to Donetsk and handed over to local commanders.

He claims his colleagues did not have the skills to take part in assaults and had poor artillery, communications and reconnaissance support. He demanded that they be returned to Russian command, saying, "We are in a hopeless situation, as we are considered expendable, and the command is indifferent to our lives."

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A third video shows a group of men, purportedly from Russia's 5th Motorized Brigade, also appealing to Putin about a lack of effective command. One man claims they had to use equipment from the 1940s and that "people die for nothing" adding, "we are not meat".

These videos have surfaced amid reports of high Russian casualties in Ukraine as a fierce battle for the Donetsk city of Bakhmut continues to rage. However, experts have said that Kyiv's forces have also suffered large losses.