The terrorist attack in Makeevka raises doubts about the competence of the Russian military leadership

Terrorist attack that killed 89 Russian soldiers on New Year’s Eve in a Ukrainian city Makeevka he revived criticism of the mobilization in Russia and highlighted the lack of confidence in the military leadership almost a year after the offensive began.

According to him Russian armythis bombardment, which was especially deadly and claimed by Ukrainiansreached a temporary shelter in the annexed Donetsk region thanks to HIMARS missiles, a weapon supplied to Kyiv by the company USA.

media and analysts Russians they quickly discovered that there were mobilized people at the base, many of them non-professional soldiers.

In general, the authorities and the media are silent about the balance of victims in Ukraine or they are quick to blame the Westerners, whose arms supplies are critical.

This time many commentators are in favor Kremlin blamed the leaders of the Russian army for this, already accused of a number of military defeats on the ground.

Some also questioned the validity of the balance sheet presented defense Departmentwhich could be higher, given the complete destruction of the building and the possible presence of stockpiled ammunition on the territory.

The army did not hesitate to blame the military personnel themselves, accused of using their phones en masse, despite the ban on it, which allowed the Ukrainians to geolocate the site.

However, he also promised to investigate and punish those responsible.

The imposition of responsibility on the troops caused outrage in Russia.

“Of course, it’s not the commander who gave the order to place personnel in the building that is to blame, but an ordinary fighter with a telephone,” Andrey Medvedev, a Moscow municipal deputy, ironically said in Telegram.

“Apathy”

With the beginning of its offensive in Ukraine, Russia he passed a series of laws penalizing information “discrediting the army”, effectively banning criticism.

After the attack on Makeevkanumerous pro-Kremlin commentators criticized the disorganization and corruption.

The chief director of the RT network, the Kremlin’s propaganda arm abroad, Margarita Simonyan, asked that the names of the high command in charge be made public.

One of the main pro-Russian sources about the war in Ukraine, the Rybar Telegram channel with 1.1 million subscribers, blamed the separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine that control Makiivka.

Popular blogger about the conflict, Boris Rozhin, known by the pseudonym “Colonel Kassad”, criticized the “incompetence” of the military leadership, unable to learn from their mistakes. An opinion shared by correspondent Alexander Kots or former separatist leader Igor Strelkov.

According to sociologist Denis Volkov, however, the losses should not significantly change the opinion of Russians about the offensive in Ukraine, especially since public television paid almost no attention to the attack.

According to him, after the announcement of mobilization at the end of October, “apathy has increased significantly” in Russian society. Instead, a series of setbacks on the ground showed that “something is not going according to plan” in Ukraine.

“People notice this, and this affects the feeling that not everything is as rosy as they say or want,” Volkov continues, although the majority remains convinced that the conflict must continue.

In the Samara region, from which some of the soldiers died in Makeevkasmall ceremonies were held with the approval of the authorities, another unusual occurrence.

On local social media, many are calling for a transparent investigation.

“It’s not the mobile phones and their owners that are to blame, but the usual negligence of the commanders, who, I’m sure, didn’t even try to reinstall the regular ones” outside the building, a group of relatives commented on social networks.

“I am surprised that the commanders did not warn of the danger,” wrote one woman.

The petition, published by activists opposed to the offensive, calls for the perpetrators to be punished and the names of those killed to be made public.

“It is important to remember that they were conscripts and not professional soldiers,” they said in a statement.

AFP