The White House said Russia is executing soldiers who have failed to follow orders and threatening entire units with death if they retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire.
It’s a development that US national security officials believe reflects Russia’s morale problems 20 months into its grinding invasion of Ukraine, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday.
“It’s reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn’t want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units, it’s barbaric,” Kirby told reporters. “But I think it’s a symptom of how poorly Russia’s military leaders know they’re doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective.”
The White House has downgraded and released intelligence findings about Russian action over the course of the war.
In the past, the administration has said it has acted to disclose the intelligence to highlight plans for Russian misinformation and other activity so allies remain clear-eyed about Moscow’s intent and Russia thinks twice before carrying out an operation.
This latest unveiling of intelligence about Russia’s struggles comes as President Joe Biden is pressing the Republican-controlled House to go along with providing more funding for Ukraine as Kyiv tries to repel Russia in a war that has no end in sight.
Russia says it rehearsed delivering a massive retaliatory nuclear strike
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Kirby pointed to the information as he renewed a plea for Congress to pass a nearly US$106 billion supplemental funding request that Biden unveiled last week. The funding request includes more than US$61 billion for Ukraine.
“President Putin is not giving up on his aspirations to take all of Ukraine and as long as Russia continues its brutal assault we have to continue to support the Ukrainian people and their self defence, because his intentions are clear,” Kirby said.
Putin “basically said that if Western weapons to Ukraine stop, Ukraine would have a week to live. So to ensure that we can continue to do that it’s critical that Congress step up and pass the supplemental requests that the president put forward last week.”
Kirby did not provide any details on how many Russian troops have been executed for failing to follow orders or any specific examples of units threatened with execution for retreating from Ukrainian fire.
The Wagner Group military contractor was reported to have had a practice of executing those who fled. The contract soldiers were pulled out of Ukraine after their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, mounted an armed rebellion in June.
There also have been reports, including from the British Defence Ministry, that the regular Russian military has deployed “barrier troops” that threaten to shoot any deserters.
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“They are in such desperate need to make some kind of progress, particularly in the Donbas, the Donetsk areas, that they are literally throwing young men into the fight who haven’t been properly trained, haven’t been properly equipped, and certainly are not being properly led,” Kirby said.
Russia has stepped up attacks near the town of Avdiivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and the northeastern city of Kupiansk in a bid to move the front line forward before winter.
Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, in a comment on the Telegram messaging app, made no reference to the White House allegations.
But referring to the latest military aid package to Ukraine of US$150 million, Antonov branded the US move as “provocative and inflammatory actions in the international arena that look more like pouring oil on the fire” than trying to ease conflict.
“It is long past time to halt the mindless multibillion-dollar flow to the bankrupt Kyiv regime,” Antonov wrote on Telegram. “Time to stop showing total disdain towards the opinions of your own citizens and indifference to the growing number of victims dying from American weaponry.”
Additional reporting by Reuters and Agence France-Presse