As Russian Casualties Soar, Dead, Wounded Are Left Frozen On Ground

Russian casualties are soaring according to NATO analysts. There are so many dead and wounded - and the temperatures are so cold on a battlefield made extremely dangerous by drones - that the Russians are not even attempting to retrieve the bodies of their fallen anymore. JL 

Sinead Baker reports in Business Insider:

Russia's "meat assault" tactics are leaving frozen bodies that Russia isn't collecting. New Russian troops often receive little training, according to Western intelligence and captured Russian soldiers. Families of Russian soldiers claimed last month that wounded troops were being sent back to Avdiivka, and that it was tantamount to their deliberate extermination. "If we kill 40 to 70 servicemen with drones in a day, the next day they renew their forces and continue to attack."

Russia's "meat assault" tactics on a key battlefield are leaving frozen bodies that Russia isn't collecting, a Ukrainian sniper said.

The sniper, a special forces officer with the call sign "Bess," told CNN that the dead soldiers "just lie there frozen."

"Nobody evacuates them, nobody takes them away," he said. "It feels like people don't have a specific task, they just go and die."

Bess, which means "demon" in Ukrainian, spoke to CNN from Avdiivka, a town in eastern Ukraine that for months has been the scene of some of the most intense fighting in the war.

 

The tactic deployed by Russia involves sending wave after wave of generally poorly trained and unsupported soldiers at Ukrainian positions, to try to overwhelm them so that other troops can then progress.

The tactic, which experts say has been used frequently in the war, is one that Russian elite soldiers — paratroopers and marines — have recently been refusing to take part in, a Ukrainian official said.

While neither side releases detailed casualty figures, observers say Russia's death toll in Avdiivka is higher than that of Ukraine.

Ukrainian medical personnel treat wounded soldiers at a stabilization point near Avdiivka, Ukraine, on New Year's Eve 2023. 

Ozge Elif Kizil/Anadolu via Getty Images

Even so, Russia has been able to make slow progress with the "meat wave" tactic, in Avdiivka and elsewhere.

 

Another soldier who spoke to CNN said that Russia just keeps renewing its forces there.

"If we can kill 40 to 70 servicemen with drones in a day, the next day they renew their forces and continue to attack," Teren, the commander of a Ukrainian drone reconnaissance unit in the town, said.

Russia, which has a much larger population than Ukraine, has been able to quickly replenish fallen troops with new recruits.

A Ukrainian official said last week that Russia is recruiting 30,000 new soldiers a month.

 

New Russian troops often receive little training, according to Western intelligence and captured Russian soldiers.

Families of Russian soldiers claimed last month that wounded troops were being sent back to Avdiivka, and that it was tantamount to their "deliberate extermination."

Aerial footage released in November by Ukraine shows a Russian armored vehicle exploding near Avdiivka, Ukraine. 

47th Separate Mechanized Brigade via Reuters Connect

Teren also said that Ukraine would be able to make more progress if it wasn't suffering from weapon and ammunition shortages.

When CNN visited the soldiers, they were relying on old, Soviet-era weaponry, and one rocket launcher was frozen when a soldier unsuccessfully tried to use it.

 

Russia started its heavy assault on Avdiivka in October, launching a grueling, attritional fight that is still ongoing.

Russia shows huge tank and troop losses.