Get A Glimpse Into How Russian Soldiers Are Living in Ukraine: Only weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports suggested that Russian soldiers were not being deployed with sufficient equipment, clothing, and even food rations.
Throughout the conflict, reports have repeatedly described how Russian soldiers felt their leaders were incompetent, making bad decisions, and not providing suitable sleeping and living conditions on the battlefield.
This week, video footage shared on Telegram, and Twitter showed that nothing has changed, with Russian soldiers seen freezing inside a poorly constructed tent.
The video shows Russian soldiers on cots, with no blankets, attempting to sleep as the tent around them flaps in the wind. The tent is not pinned to the ground and looks as though it could fall apart or blow away at any moment.
One Russian soldier can be seen standing and preparing some food, and the soldiers’ guns and bags can be seen stored at the other end of the tent.
“Mobilized from the Russian Federation are no different from the homeless, judging by the conditions in which they live,” war analysis Twitter account Rinegati writes in a post containing the video.
mobilized from the Russian Federation are no different from the homeless, judging by the conditions in which they live. pic.twitter.com/0f4lyanZXC
— ??War in Ukraine?? (@Rinegati) November 21, 2022
While soldiers may have been able to endure conditions like this in the warmer months, the temperature is quickly dropping in Ukraine, presenting new problems for Russian soldiers.
Visegrád 24, a Twitter account that aggregates news from central and eastern Europe, shared similar video footage showing Russian soldiers at a camp in Voronezh, close to the Ukrainian border. The soldiers can be seen and heard complaining about the conditions in which they are expected to live, particularly given that they are now experiencing the first significant snowfall of the season.
“They won’t have it any better on Ukrainian territory,” the account notes.
The video shows snow on the ground and tents with no sides, meaning the Russian soldiers are completely exposed to the elements as they sleep. Others can be seen pitching hammocks between trees and attempting to light fires with what looks like damp wood.
Mobilized Russian soldiers record their camp in Voronezh, near the Ukrainian border and complain about being without tents despite the fact that the first serious snowfall of the season.
They won’t have it any better on Ukrainian territory. pic.twitter.com/RGwkVmbuXq
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 18, 2022
The conditions suggest that Russia is struggling to provide soldiers with the bare minimum they need to remain healthy and in fighting shape on the battlefield. Sleeping in these conditions could mean Russian soldiers succumbing to the elements while on the battlefield, even potentially fighting hypothermia, frostbite, and gangrene.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He 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.
