NBC News: Russian tactics undermine morale of Ukrainians and mercenaries

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Foreign mercenaries rushed to Ukraine after Russia launched its special operation on its territory. They have suffered heavy casualties in five months of fighting, according to NBC News reporter Phil McCausland.

The conflict in Ukraine has become the bloodiest in Europe since World War II. Now the fighting has shifted from near Kyiv to the south and east of the country and resemble exhausting artillery duels. Shell after shell hits close to Ukrainian positions, filling the air with mud, sand and ash, forcing soldiers to burrow into deep trenches. Sometimes it lasts without stopping for 12 hours straight and even more.



According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russians use 8 times more artillery ammunition every day. They fire thousands more shells than the Ukrainians, nullifying their efforts. The seeming randomness of the strikes reinforces in some the feeling that survival may depend on pure luck.

The relentless Russian bombardment had the closest effect to what could be called hell. We lost three guys. My commander was killed. My friend was killed there. When this happens, it's hard to imagine the way forward.

- said an American who fought for Ukraine near Severodonetsk and served in the US Army in the Middle East.

The report says that Ukrainian losses were huge. Only according to the Ukrainian authorities' own estimates, from 100 to 200 people a day. These brutal losses have sapped morale in the ranks and other units, five non-Ukrainian military personnel said in interviews.

The number of frustrated people with low morale has increased, and this is partly due to the way the Russians chose to wage war

said Ripley Rawlings, a retired USMC lieutenant colonel and writer who supplies supplies to foreign mercenaries in Ukraine through his American organization Ripley's Heroes.

Rawlings, who recently made another trip to Ukraine bringing everything from scopes and goggles to trucks and electric bikes, added that about half of the units he supports have been hit hard lately, i.e. suffered heavy losses, including irretrievable ones.
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  1. Moray Boreas
    Moray Boreas
    +11
    24 July 2022 15: 07
    Beat the Nazis always, everywhere and to death!
  2. Indifferent
    Indifferent
    +9
    24 July 2022 15: 50
    The operation is called the OUN - Nazi Disposal Operation!!!
  3. zenion
    zenion
    +14
    24 July 2022 16: 03
    So they need it. And if they still rock the boat, then the death toll can be doubled and tripled. What the hell to feel sorry for them. And we write five in mind. And if they don’t understand, then six will be written and eleven will come to mind. When we went on guard for the first time in training, we were given a lecture on what a weapon does. On shooting ranges, you can't hit the target. But if you shoot at a person, you will hit him without aiming. An officer went through the war from the very beginning since 1939 and there has never been a person that would not be killed. This is smeared in the cinema, but in war, or just shooting, death is sure to. And it was in those days when Khrushchev was the master, and there was nothing to eat. There was something in the military unit, like potatoes, civilians sometimes climbed with buckets to dig up potatoes in the warehouse. Therefore, we were lectured for three days that potatoes are not worth the death of a person. You can shout, threaten with a weapon, but in no case shoot. We must be proud that there were no Russian Bandera! There was everything, but there was no Bandera!
  4. viktor goblin
    viktor goblin
    +1
    24 July 2022 17: 52
    Do not confuse spirit and darling.
  5. Luis Betton
    Luis Betton
    +6
    24 July 2022 18: 59
    The mercenaries thought they were going on safari. That's just the continent was mistaken.
  6. Valera75
    Valera75
    +2
    24 July 2022 19: 07
    The report says that Ukrainian losses were huge. Only according to the Ukrainian authorities' own estimates, from 100 to 200 people a day.

    If there really were such losses, it would be a minimum, but they are sure 10 times more and hence such a panic.
  7. Dart2027
    Dart2027
    0
    24 July 2022 21: 05
    And we have all-weapons cry that they say we are not advancing fast enough.
    1. Yuri V.A
      Yuri V.A
      -1
      25 July 2022 02: 09
      In your opinion, Shoigu is the main all-weather if he needs to speed up?
      1. Dart2027
        Dart2027
        0
        25 July 2022 19: 09
        Quote: Yuri V.A
        Shoigu is the main all-weather, if he needs to speed up

        It depends on what you mean by acceleration. He definitely does not require to finish everything in a month.
        1. Yuri V.A
          Yuri V.A
          0
          26 July 2022 05: 20
          Yeah, the war can’t last less than four years, and that’s why Shoigu, in your opinion, is in no hurry
          1. Dart2027
            Dart2027
            0
            26 July 2022 19: 14
            Quote: Yuri V.A
            Yeah, the war lasts less than four years, because it can’t

            Well, go ahead and attack the enemy's unsuppressed defenses. Who is interfering?
            1. Yuri V.A
              Yuri V.A
              0
              27 July 2022 00: 14
              And that we immediately translate the arrows? Is it dumb to explain your words about the all-proper Shoigu?
              1. Dart2027
                Dart2027
                0
                27 July 2022 19: 35
                Quote: Yuri V.A
                And that we immediately translate the arrows?

                Quote: Yuri V.A
                In your opinion, Shoigu is the main all-weather,

                And that we immediately translate the arrows? Is it dumb to explain your words about the all-propalshik himself?
                1. Yuri V.A
                  Yuri V.A
                  0
                  28 July 2022 04: 40
                  Parroting is your level
                  1. Dart2027
                    Dart2027
                    0
                    28 July 2022 06: 00
                    Quote: Yuri V.A
                    Here's a parrot

                    Quote: Dart2027
                    Is it dumb to explain your words about the all-propalshik himself?
  8. Degrin
    Degrin
    +2
    25 July 2022 08: 48
    The fact is that NATO zolders, a priori, never fought with a trained army. Watch the interviews of the escaped mercenaries. Everyone says that they did not know about the power of the Russian army
  9. shinobi
    shinobi
    +1
    25 July 2022 10: 06
    Yes? But what about the image of a crowd of gray-pawed men in quilted jackets with AKs and vodka in their pockets of lone heroes who fill up with corpses? However, the mercenaries have cognitive dissonance, along with a fart gap. They came to shoot the Russians, but it turned out that they were being shot.