Vladimir Putin has been left humiliated as the last surviving member of a regiment completely wiped out by Ukraine‘s defence forces spoke out about the catastrophic conditions he and his fellow soldiers are facing.
Anton Andreev, from the fifth company of the 1009th regiment, was one of 12 survivors left of his unit after they came under Ukrainian fire in the Kharkiv region.
The unit initially included an estimated 100 members but was nearly entirely decimated as they struggled to escape a major drone and missile attack in Vovchansk.
The northern Ukrainian town has been a prime target for Russian troops since the Kremlin green-lit a new offensive in the area in May.
In a clip widely shared on Telegram and verified by The Guardian, Andreev said: “They just chop us up. We are sent under machine guns, under drones in daylight, like meat. And commanders just shout ‘forward and forward.’
“I don’t know if I will get out of this or not, but I need to say this to honour the memory of those who died like meat here because of certain individuals.
“You walk through the street, and everything seems to be fine. But then you get caught up in a massacre. During the first night, half the company immediately died.”
Russia initially secured a considerable advance in the region, the biggest its troops had managed to make in nearly 18 months – sparking fears about Ukraine‘s ability to push Putin’s men back.
Kyiv’s defence forces, however, have been mostly able to stabilise the front and keep Moscow’s military from advancing towards Ukraine‘s second-largest city.
Putin and his Russian state media cronies have been downplaying negative reports and instead claiming that losses are “of course several times less than on the Ukrainian side.”
The Russian President has been grappling with the possibility of a mutiny since the summer of 2023, when the late leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, called his men off as they threatened to march on Moscow.
But Putin has since attempted to reclaim complete control of the narrative and had several nationalist commentators arrested for criticising the war effort.
Kyiv’s outgunned and outnumbered forces are battling to hold back the bigger Russian army, which is trying to exploit Ukrainian vulnerabilities.
Ukraine has been short of troops, ammunition and air defences in recent months as the Kremlin’s forces try to cripple the national power supply and punch through the front line in eastern parts of the country.
Military analysts have warned that Ukraine will need to weather the Russian onslaught through the summer.
In the meantime train more soldiers, build fortifications and hope that the provision of Western military aid picks up speed so that in 2025 Kyiv may be able to mount its own offensive.