Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was urged to kill himself by a Russian official who was appointed to supervise a region of Ukraine partially occupied. This is in response to a major Ukrainian counteroffensive.
“Many are saying the Defense Minister who allowed this to happen should just shoot himself like an [real] Officer,” Kirill Stremousov said. He was the deputy head for the administration that Russian officials set up in the Kherson region they control.
Stremousov made that statement in a social media video, while he also assured Russian state media that “the Situation is Under Control.” However, Ukrainian officials claim and even Russian defense ministry maps admit that invading forces are surrendering to a counteroffensive from Ukraine. This has forced Russian President Vladimir Putin into ordering a “partial mobilization of Russian conscripts.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, stated Wednesday that he wanted to honor the personnel of the operative strategic group “Oleksandriya” for creating the conditions for a successful offensive and for planning and preparing active action in the Kherson area. “Those actions already have a tangible outcome. There will be more.”
Putin appointed Shoigu as defense minister in 2012. He claimed that more than 200,000 reservists had joined the Armed Forces since Putin’s order to draft last month. He said Tuesday that the personnel of the units have been trained at eighty training grounds and six training centers.
However, the attempts to draft new forces have prompted an exodus among fighting-age Russians out of the country. This is despite complaints about the organization of the mobilization. A group of angry Russian conscripts reportedly recorded near Belgorod near the Russian-Ukrainian border appears to be voicing their dissatisfaction that “officers treat me like cattle” as well as the fact that the government has failed them with food, medical care, or adequate equipment.
According to the War Translated project, the protesting forces claim that there is virtually no training. “Our weapons date back to the ’70s or ’80s. People are sick. They may have a fever, pneumonia, or both. You can bend helmets with your finger. Most personnel don’t wear helmets or armor.
Russian mobiks, location unspecified, recording an address to the public, saying they were abandoned, they are all sick, they were given weapons which are not registered anywhere, they have to buy their food, and there are mentally unstable people among them. pic.twitter.com/bfqrqduPv1
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) October 5, 2022
Shoigu was given macabre advice by Stremousov. This is in contrast to a more general indictment of Russia’s military leadership. It was broadcast by a prominent state media broadcaster. “The guilty must be punished.” Capital punishment is not an option, unfortunately. However, some people would benefit from it,” Russia-1 anchor Vladimir Solovyov stated this week. They don’t have an officer’s sense of honor, because they’re not shooting at themselves.
Stremousov, a Russian state media outlet, put a brave face to the situation in an interview.
He stated that “The Ukrainian Armed Forces have not made any progress, and our Military is working.”
