New Russian combat unit aims to aid often-drunk Ukraine: report

• Russia has suffered heavy losses in Ukraine and is looking to strengthen its ranks.
• But a new combat unit in training is said to be harassing locals and spending most of its time drunk.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that locals are complaining about the new unit on social media.

Russia is scrambling to compensate for devastating troop losses in Ukraine, and recently began training new volunteer battalions aimed at helping it turn the tide in a war that does not appear to be going its way.

But one of these units, the Third Corps, has forces that seem to spend much of their time drunk and disturb the locals in the area where they train, According to a Wall Street Journal report. Such observations may indicate that these new recruits lack discipline and will struggle to significantly enhance the Russian war effort.

According to the newspaper, residents of the town of Molino – where the training is taking place – are complaining about the new combat unit on social media.

“The whole village is suffering because of these volunteers,” a woman known by the name of Ksenia Glutova wrote on the Russian social network VK. “They roam in groups and harass. It would be one thing if they were trained and stayed at their base. But they roam drunk from 11am.”

Another user, Yekaterina Horoshavina, said the unit seemed proud that it would be deployed to Ukraine, writing, “They say they will defend us, but based on what we’ve seen, we won’t sleep very quietly.”

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin The Russian army was ordered to expand by 137,000 Beginning in 2023. The announcement came a day after the Ukrainian War celebrated its six-month anniversary. The conflict became a grinding war of attrition, with Russia focusing primarily on making gains in the eastern Donbass region and capturing captured territories in the south. But the progress was gradual, and Russia’s progress virtually stopped.

The Pentagon recently said that it is estimated that up to 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war so far, a staggering number in just half a year of fighting.

While Russia looks to strengthen its ranks, so does Ukraine Long-awaited counterattack in the south.

“The Ukrainian armed forces have violated the first line of defense of the occupiers near Kherson,” the Center for Strategic Communications of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine said in a statement. statement Monday. “They believe that Ukraine has a real chance of regaining its occupied territories, especially given the very successful use of Western weapons by the Ukrainian army.”