Russian recruits expected to survive for just ’30 minutes’ on frontline

Half a million casualties, fuel shortages and key infrastructure destroyed; Putin’s war machine continues to take its toll in Russia.

Half a million casualties, fuel shortages and key infrastructure destroyed; Putin’s war machine continues to take its toll in Russia.

It has now been more than 50 months since the Russian president launched his ‘special military operation’ – a war which has now outlasted the First World War and dragged on longer than Russia’s conflict against Nazi Germany.

Now, new reports suggest that Russian soldiers are being butchered not within days or hours, but within minutes of going to war.

In fact, Russian recruits can expect to last barely half an hour upon arriving on the frontline, an expert has said.

Peter Frankopan, a professor of global history at Oxford University, said that eight Russians are being either killed or seriously injured for every Ukrainian.

So little wonder that Putin is having to entice new recruits with bonuses to the tune of £60,000 as well as debt relief up to £105,000.

Some 420,000 were reported by state media to have taken up one-year-long contracts.

However, as Professor Frankopan explains, Russia’s accelerating rate of casualties is very much down to new military technology and tactics.

In a column for Foreign Policy, he argues that recruits are being killed within 20 minutes of setting foot on the battlefield.

According to Russian military bloggers, an average fighter can expect to last somewhere between 10 days and three weeks from arriving at a training ground.

Drones have become a primary weapon, with Ukrainian forces launching them against not just military targets but key oil infrastructure as well.

Addressing the shortage of petrol at pumps, Putin conceded to senior officials ‘problems’ had been caused by supply issues and said he was considering measures such as a ban on diesel exports.