Furious conscripts turn on commander: Top officer ‘beaten after saying ‘you are all cannon fodder”

A top Russian officer reportedly had his face smashed in a brawl with furious conscripts after telling them their lives would be wasted on the front lines in Ukraine.

The mobilized recruits turned on the Russian lieutenant colonel after he bluntly said, “You are all cannon fodder, you are being slaughtered.”

The senior officer had his face “smashed in” and broken bones in his face in a brawl in which “everyone was drunk,” reports say.

Many of the reservists – among the hundreds of thousands thrown into the war under a Vladimir Putin decree – were distraught after being told they would die at the front.

However, the commander was probably correct in saying that Putin’s call will lead to mass deaths of untrained reservists being sent to the front.

It’s just the latest story of chaos, fighting and drunkenness among newly mobilized Russian conscripts, with reports of many being sent to the front lines with little or no training, only to be told to buy their own supplies and equipment.

Russian officers – often conscripts themselves – have advised new recruits to bring their own sleeping bags, tourniquets, medicines and roll mats.

A video shows a fist punch, but it’s not clear whether this was the brawl in which the officer’s face was punched, or just another brawl between disgruntled grunts.

The recruits turned on the senior copper officer at the Rubin Palace of Sports in Penza, Russia, where the men were stationed in makeshift barracks before being sent into battle in Ukraine.

Subsequent reports said the unnamed Lieutenant Colonel’s face was “smashed all over” with broken bones.

A conscript’s brother said, “My brother just sent me a message.

‘There was a lieutenant colonel in between’ [the newly-mobilised]saying to them: ‘You are all cannon fodder, you are being slaughtered’.

“There was a fight, the Colonel’s face was shattered.

“They could hardly separate them. One person got sick [after the cannon cannon fodder threat].

‘In an hour there were two ambulances urgently. Many people felt sick, many were in tears.

‘One tried to escape, they grabbed him. It’s a terrible nightmare what’s happening there.

‘There were now 1,080 people, in Rubin [sports palace]. They will end up in knife fights, it’s a complete mess there.

“They’re all drunk. Piece by piece.’

Meanwhile, another piece of footage showed what appeared to be a female quartermaster talking to new recruits and advising them to bring tampons.

The sanitary products can be used to close gunshot wounds and stop the bleeding if there is no medical equipment, the woman tells the new recruits.

“Won’t they give it to us?” asks one of the new recruits.

“It’s all ours, boys,” the woman calls back. “You get a uniform and a suit of armor, nothing else.”

Additional videos have surfaced showing a newly recruited tank commander being told he will be going to the Kherson frontline in two days without firing a shot at a training area.

More footage shows two troops sitting in a field in Ukraine complaining that they have been left without food or water by their commanders, and that they would be better off fighting for the other side.

These are just the latest examples of poor morale and poor preparation within Russia’s ranks after Putin’s army exhausted itself in the seven-month war in Ukraine.

In images posted online, the tank commander says: “The officials have told us that there will be no training until we are sent to the conflict zone.

Our commander has officially confirmed that we will be sent to Kherson on September 29. Make your own decisions about what to do with that progress…

“There’s been no training at all—no shooting, no theoretical training…nothing. F***.’

Mark Krutov, a journalist from Radio Free Europe, managed to track down the commander and confirmed that he is in a barracks called Kalininets in Moscow.

The man said he was a night shift worker from Moscow who was sleeping at home when soldiers knocked on his door and ordered him to the front.

Asked to elaborate on his complaints, he replied: ‘I can’t speak now, things have changed drastically, hopefully for the better’, and got in touch.

Meanwhile, other images showed two men claiming to be Russian soldiers sitting in a fox hole in a forest, ostensibly in Ukraine.

“Here we are in the woods,” the man says to the camera as his comrade sits down behind him.

‘We just got fired, they hit us from meters away. We were left in the woods… Like cannon fodder sent to the damn woods.

‘What [are our commanders] playing with this army that just doesn’t work? It’s worse than working in the Ukrainian armed forces.

‘F***ing f***ers… And none of the commanders of our team are here, they all left, they were the first to go. Now there are only us ‘contractors’.

“There’s nothing on our machines, no supplies, no electronics. No binoculars, no thermal imagers, nothing at all. Machine gun and ammunition. And the bayonet. But there’s nothing wrong. Here we are waiting. Let’s see what will happen.

At night we are on the battlefield, on the front line. It’s across the field. These bastards left us without water. No food. Let’s see what happens next.’

In an effort to solve Russia’s chronic manpower problem, Putin ordered what he called the “partial mobilization” of Russian military reserves on September 21.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of men have been assigned to military bases where they have been hastily equipped and given minimal training before being rushed to the battlefield.