Russian Soldiers Kill Brigade Commander Over Ukraine Losses – Russia’s failure to capture Ukraine and make significant new advances in the country over the last two weeks is generating frustration and anger among Russian troops that culminated in Russian soldiers killing a Russian army commander with a tank.
The 37th rifle brigade commander Colonel Medvechek was reportedly run over by a tank operated by one of his soldiers who was angry with their unit’s repeated and heavy losses.
One Western official told the press that the death was deliberate.
“Indeed, we believe he was run over by his own troops. And I believe he was the commander of the 27th Motor Rifle Brigade,” the unnamed official said, adding that it was a “consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by this brigade.”
Video footage shared online appeared to show Medvechek being carried on a stretcher after being run over by a tank. The footage appears to confirm reports that the Russian commander’s legs were crushed by the tank and he soon died of the injuries.
Russian soldiers have good reason to be frustrated with their lack of progress in Ukraine. Despite destroying the city of Mariupol, killing thousands of civilians, and using the country’s most advanced non-nuclear missiles, Ukrainian fighters are still holding their own. Ukrainian troops also reached new heights in their war effort against Russian invaders this week when they successfully destroyed a Russian warship docked in the port of Berdyansk. It meant that Russian troops were unable to access vital supplies, weapons, and vehicles sent from the Russian mainland.
Former U.S. Ambassador Says Putin Is “Humiliated”
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, former United States ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said that the Russian President is “humiliated” over his military’s inability to take Kiev and achieve its primary goals in Ukraine.
“I think he’s humiliated. I think his generals are really humiliated. My sense is there’s probably some tension between them right now because this is not what they planned,” he said, while also applauding the sanctions implemented by the United States government in response to the Ukraine invasion.
“Because remember, they said they were going to be done in three or four days. We are now a month into this war, they’re nowhere near meeting the military objectives they set out, and my sense is that Putin is very angry and frustrated with the way this war is going, and that’s good news,” he added.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
