Experts pointed out that Russian forces continue to use Storm-Z infantry assault units, which are mainly made up of ex-offenders and convicts.
On October 30, the spokesperson of the “Taurija” group, Colonel Oleksandras Štupun. stated that Russian forces are preparing to carry out “meat attacks” (frontal infantry attacks – ed. post) near Avdijivka and are preparing Storm-Z units for future attacks without equipment and equipment.
One Russian “soldier” who is said to be stationed in the direction of Avdijivka said that “meat attacks” are a move in which Russian infantry attack without artillery support.
He said that when two Russian regiments conduct “meat attacks” next to each other, the gap between the two regiments’ areas of responsibility is left unprotected and vulnerable to Ukrainian counterattacks.
Another Russian “soldier” said that Storm-Z assault units in the direction of Avdijivka and on the southern flank of Bakhmut are often destroyed after several days of active action, losing an average of 40-70 percent. your staff.
He criticized the poor training of Russian Storm-Z military units and the reluctance of officers to consider the suggestions of Storm-Z commanders when assigning them combat tasks.
According to the Russian “Military Corps”, Storm-Z units are often brought into battle without reconnaissance or contact with neighboring units and usually attempt to evacuate the wounded without artillery cover, resulting in even greater losses.
Both “soldiers” noted that Russian attacks and counterattacks lacked adequate artillery support.
One of them said that these factors lead to the fact that Storm-Z units turn into “junk” without achieving significant results.
Analysts of the Military Research Institute have repeatedly announced the ineffectiveness of Storm-Z units.
What are Storm-Z units?
The so-called punitive squads, each of which has about 100-150 soldiers and is included in the units of the regular army, are usually sent to the most vulnerable areas of the front and often suffer extremely heavy losses.
Previously, the convicts fought in the ranks of the private mercenary group “Wagner”, which was led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is said to have died in a plane crash in Russia. The Storm-Z units are now under the direct command of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
IMAGO/Scanpix/Russian soldiers
The aforementioned units are said to connect convicts who volunteer to fight in exchange for a promise of pardon, with regular soldiers who are being punished for infractions of discipline.
Although the ministry has never admitted to developing the Storm-Z squads, the first reports of their existence emerged in April, when analysts at the United States-based Institute for Military Research cited what it said was a leaked Russian military report on the formation of the squads.
According to the Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent organization that monitors the war, the Storm-Z units are useful to the Russian Ministry of Defense because they can be deployed as foot soldiers who are not sorry to lose.
“Storm” fighters are simply sent to the most dangerous parts of the front – for defense and attack,” representatives of the group operating in Russia previously commented to the Reuters news agency.
IMAGO/Scanpix/Russian soldiers
According to Reuters, it was unable to determine the total number of soldiers serving in these units, but after interviews with people familiar with the matter, it is estimated that at least several hundred Storm-Z fighters are currently deployed on the front lines.
There is no shortage of historical precedents when military criminals were included in combat units. In 1942, when the Red Army was retreating from a Nazi offensive, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, in a signed decree, ordered the formation of “punitive battalions” from panicked or desertion soldiers, which were stationed at the most dangerous areas of the front.
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