Russian commanders are said to be sending troops on deadly ‘meat grinder’ assaults in Ukraine as punishment for showing dissent.
The tactic is being used to silence personnel who become ‘disgruntled’ and means ‘almost certain and very rapid death’, according to a media outlet which has been using open sources to monitor the Kremlin’s losses.
One of the latest examples in the news cited by Mediazona involved a Russian drone operator who filmed a video suggesting his unit had been infiltrated by Western intelligence. Dmytro Lysakhovsky also claimed his commander lied about battlefield victories in eastern Ukraine.
The soldier further says that the officer, who he names as Igor Puzik, is ‘under the influence of a man who directly talks to Western intelligence.’
Lysakhovsky, an experienced soldier with the call sign ‘Goodwin’, makes the allegations before being sent on a near-suicidal infantry assault, apparently as punishment for calling out the corruption in Vladimir Putin’s ranks.
Mika Golubosvky, an editor at Mediazona, said: ‘The “meat grinder” tactics were widely used by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group, mostly in the battle for Bakhmut, and later were adopted by the regular Russian army.
‘There are signs that “meat offensives” have become a sort of punishment in the army. If, for any reason, a soldier becomes disgruntled with his superiors, they transfer him to an assault unit, and it means almost certain and very rapid death. So the concept of “disposable soldiers” is really something very prevalent in the current Russian army.’
In his solo video, Goodwin says that his long-range drone reconnaissance unit has been disbanded so that they would stop receiving frontline information before the attack.
He is pictured in a wooded spot wearing combat fatigues and says he is in the area of the village of Memrik in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.
Goodwin accuses the 87th Separate Rifle Regiment’s commander, who uses the callsign ‘Zloy’, of lying about capturing towns and villages, saying that it happens across the frontline of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In a translation by the WarTranslated X channel, Goodwin says: ‘I record this because there’s a high chance that I won’t return from this assault.
‘So remember, war must be called war and traitors who lie should be shot or there’s no war but an agreement and a market economy.’
The soldier calmly alleges that his superior was under the influence of a man ‘with contacts in the West’ who ‘strangely passed all filtration’.
How many Russians have died in Ukraine?
More than 71,000 Russian military personnel have died in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to analysis by Mediazona, BBC News’ Russian service and volunteers. As the combined research uses a process of verification, the real toll is likely to be much higher.
Prisoners were the largest category of war losses by March 2023 before the numbers dropped after Russian forces captured Bakhmut.
By September 2024, volunteers once again emerged as the largest category among the killed in action. The researchers attributed this to waning prison recruitment and no new mobilisation at that point.
He goes on to say that Zloy has a hand in the regional military administration in Donetsk and ‘acts as a fist that clears’ in sending the men to their likely deaths so corruption can take place, including selling off their equipment. The soldier also says that Vloy is ‘supporting the narco-traffic’, giving names of others who he claims are involved.
After an explosion sounds in the background, he says: ‘I’m giving this, in case I don’t come back from the assault.
‘Only then will this message have any weight.’
In another video which has emerged on Russia-affiliated Telegram channels, Goodwin appears alongside a comrade named as Serhiy Gritsay, whose callsign is ‘Ernest’. They repeat the previous accusations as well as saying humanitarian aid is being stolen.
But they say it is their duty to follow orders and take part in the assault, which will likely lead to their deaths.
A caption accompanying the video of the two men on one Russian Telegram channel reads: ‘To play with honor alongside scumbags is not about victory.
‘They know nothing of honor, valor, or courage.
‘This is the warriors’ last address before going to their death!’
The pair’s deaths were reported on September 13 by Russian ‘Z-bloggers’ and have also been covered by Mediazona, an independent Russian media outlet. The Russian Ministry of Defence has reportedly confirmed the men’s deaths and promised to investigate, with the videos attracting thousands of views and comments in support of the deceased.
Mediazona found that Goodwin had fought in the Donbas for many years and was close to a prominent war blogger and soldier using the name ‘Murz’, who reportedly died by suicide after revealing the death toll of the Russian army in the Avdiivka offensive.
The videos have emerged posthumously as Putin continues with the ‘meat assaults’ which have consumed vast amounts of Russian lives in order to make negligible or incremental gains.
At least 70,000 Russian troops have been killed since the all-out attack was launched in February 2022, research by Mediazona shows.
In one incidence Metro.co.uk reported on how members of an elite unit suspected of war crimes had been ‘liquidated’ by Ukrainian armed forces.
Six bodies of Russian ‘Senezh’ fighters were found in a forest after the men were killed in close-quarters fighting in Chernihiv.
The unit is linked to war crimes in Ukraine’s north-east regions, according to an investigation by the Molfar open-source intelligence agency.
Putin has moved to fill the huge losses with the conscription of another 133,000 raw recruits aged between 18 and 30.
Parents have raised fears that the untrained troops will be thrust straight into ‘hot’ border regions close to the war zone.
The call-up follows a draft last year when Putin recruited 130,000 troops, and in spring when he drafted another 150,000.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.