1/ Russian soldiers are stopped from retreating by the use of blocking units, which threaten or if necessary shoot retreaters to discourage others. This is risky work for the blockers too, as the story of a soldier named Ivan, call sign 'Angel', shows. ⬇️
2/ Ivan's story – he is now dead – illustrates the dangers of being assigned to blocking duty. While some dedicated blocking units may exist, his story and that of another man (thread below) suggest that blocking is often done on an ad hoc basis. https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/stat...
3/ Ivan's widow Eva says that he was involved in evacuating the wounded and spent two days bringing a seriously injured colleague from the front line. He was then ordered to go back on combat duty but refused because he was exhausted, and went to sleep.
4/ In a video recorded before his death, Ivan says: "I've been here for over two days now. It's been three days since I've slept. I've had no strength at all. We get here, and the order is to get on motorcycles and move on ... And I say, I'm going to rest."
5/ His deputy commander had threatened: "If you don't get up and go now, I'll declare you AWOL." (False accusations of desertion have become a routine form of punishment, as being declared a deserter cuts off a soldier's pay.) https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/stat...
6/ When Ivan awoke, he found that he had been assigned a new mission, likely as a punishment – to join other soldiers in a blocking squad, monitor those on the front line, and prevent them from fleeing their positions. He sent a video to his wife Eva, complaining about it.
7/ He says that many of the soldiers refuse to follow orders and abandon their positions without permission out of fear of death: "The guys simply can't go any further. Today, I sent a group of six people, and only three returned."
8/ "There they sit, crying: 'Fuck, we're scared, we're not going, we don't want to die,' and so on. They can't even get through a checkpoint. I'm sitting here saying, "I just don't want to push anyone around."
9/ According to Eva, Ivan and two fellow soldiers went to look for men who had fled their positions and were hiding in houses in a village. They were fired upon, mortally wounding Ivan. Another member of the squad was likely killed but was later declared to be a deserter.
10/ Ivan himself was declared missing in action because his body could not be recovered. Only one member of the squad survived and returned to base.
11/ The violent reaction of the deserters is unsurprising. The standard punishment for going AWOL is to be assigned to a stormtrooper squad and sent to assault a Ukrainian position. This has an extremely high probability of death; few stormtroopers survive long. /end
@ChrisO_wiki So the Russian soldier is so devoid of unit cohesion that he can be set to kill his own retreating colleagues. A KGB blocking detachment is depraved; the casual use of any stray soldier is even worse. Yet another brilliant and perverse set of anecdotes from you. Thank you.
@DavidW973473820 There's no unit cohesion because the members of the unit often get killed too quickly – within days or a couple of weeks of arriving. They don't have time to cohere, as it's just an endless flow of replacements.
@ChrisO_wiki Your thread is very popular today! #TopUnroll https://threadreaderapp.com/th... 🙏🏼@grabje11 for 🥇unroll
@ChrisO_wiki Like the NKVD during WW2
@ChrisO_wiki The killings will continue until morale improves. 🙄
@ChrisO_wiki This video is familiar. Like from a couple years ago
@ChrisO_wiki You mean azov?
@ChrisO_wiki Ivan died from “un-friendly fire”.
@ChrisO_wiki Standard method since 1917.
@ChrisO_wiki Zs call it fake
@ChrisO_wiki watch which way events are happening. are they going to send you? are they going to block you if/when retreating? be ready to kill commanders first, and escape/surrender.
@ChrisO_wiki Not sorry for any Russian
@ChrisO_wiki Stay home ruzzians
@ChrisO_wiki Jednostki zaporowe są w każdej armii i tej na prawo i na lewo !?
@ChrisO_wiki Fallait pas voter pour le "Nain" du kremlin ! 🤡
@ChrisO_wiki That's good news.
@ChrisO_wiki as much as I'd like to cry over Russian garbage garbage good or bad... is still garbage
@ChrisO_wiki @threadreaderapp unroll
@ChrisO_wiki Criminals are bait
@ChrisO_wiki They have zero tactics, how this rabble is supposedly going to conquer Europe is a mystery. I'd suggest since everyone is armed just shoot it out just like the old westerns.
@ChrisO_wiki This video was 1st released a couple of years ago but is of Russian blocking units.
@ChrisO_wiki 😂😂😂😂 every accusation is a confession..😂😂😂😂🤡🤡🤡🤡