Russians shoot their retreating soldiers – White House

The United States has evidence that Russian commanders have been executing their soldiers who refuse to charge, retreat, or fail to follow orders.

Source: John Kirby, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, citing the US Presidential Administration

Quote from Kirby: "To pursue that outcome in Avdiivka and elsewhere on the battlefield, Russia continues to show no regard for the lives of its soldiers.

We believe they have suffered thousands of casualties in their effort to conduct this offensive, some of them on the orders of their own leaders.

We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders. We also have information that Russian commanders are threatening to execute entire units if they seek to retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire."

Details: Kirby added that Russian conscripts "remain undertrained, underequipped, and unprepared for combat".

Therefore, the US believes the skills and morale of Russian recruits are low.

Quote: "As was the case during their failed winter offensive last year, Russian military appears to be using what we would call ‘human wave tactics’ — just throwing masses of these poorly trained soldiers right into the fight, no proper equipment, no leadership, no resourcing, no support.

It is unsurprising that Russian forces are suffering from poor morale given all these conditions."

Details: When asked how long the execution of Russian soldiers has been going on and what it looks like, how many people have been executed and in what way, Kirby failed to answer.

However, the official called it a shameful phenomenon.

"It’s reprehensible to think about the that — that you would — that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn’t want to follow orders. And — and now threatening to execute entire units. It’s barbaric.

But I think it’s a symptom of — of how poorly Russia’s military leaders know they’re doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective.

From the very beginning we’ve been talking about poor command and control, poor logistics and sustainment. They can’t feed their guys in the field for crying out loud. And now, again, they’re — they’re willing to shoot them for following orders — for not following orders."

Details: Kirby noted it also reflects desperation over staff shortages.

The White House representative noted, "Russia obviously has a bigger military than Ukraine, and they have access to more manpower to man it".

"But they are — they are in such desperate need to make some kind of progress — particularly in the Donbas, the Donetsk area — 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.

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