Russia said a battalion of Ukrainian prisoners of war, or POWs, would soon be sent to the front lines to fight against their own country, state media reported.
State media said troops had taken an oath of allegiance, but the move could still be a violation of international laws concerning warfare. It also raises questions about the need to use POWs, in particular about the state and quality of Russia’s forces as they suffer a high number of casualties on the battlefield.
On November 7, the Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti said Ukrainian POWs in the “Bogdan Khmelnitsky” battalion swore an oath of allegiance to Russia and would soon deploy into battle. The outlet had said in late October that Russian authorities were planning to send the group — described as a battalion including about 70 prisoners from various penal colonies — to the front lines and that they were conducting relevant training in preparation.
What’s going to stop them from just surrendering to whoever they’re fighting?
Same thing they do to Russian troops, they’ll shoot anyone that tries.
Curious how that will work out in an actual combat scenario.
Is there just a direct line of sight to would-be defectors at all times? Seems like in the heat of battle, it would be pretty difficult for Russians to fight their own soldiers as well as Ukraine’s.
That’s the power of organizational knowledge
A small decently trained squad who has a plan to obliterate a group of forced and most likely untrained group with less lethal weapons is going to absolutely destroy that untrained group as has been shown multiple times in history. Russia is a common example!
Untrained? They’re prisoners of war, though… As in, they were formerly Ukrainian soldiers. What’s to stop those PoWs from just immediately turning on this supposed “death squad” within their ranks at the first opportunity, as I’m guessing they would greatly outnumber their wardens.
Regardless, for all we know, these PoWs really could have turned coat. Guess time will tell.
Bold of you to assume prisoners of war always means soldiers and not any men who gave the slightest resistance to Russian occupation.
Less lethal? Are they giving out tasers and bean bag guns? What about pepper spray?
Seriously there are few controls and the machine gunning of retreating troops a la ww2 isn’t exactly an easy thing to do in modern warfare.
Not less lethal like police equipment, less lethal like a knife or barely functioning rifle with few bullets vs a light machine gun with plenty of ammunition.
The conscripts are probably unarmed the majority of the time, and poorly armed when thrown into the meat grinder while the leadership will always be well equipped and organized to quickly put down any resistance by conscripts.
You realise that the condition of the weapon doesn’t change it’s lethality?
A rifle capable of firing a round is lethal, full stop.
A knife even when dull is lethal (and more destructive to the person stabbed).
It sounds like you don’t understand how weapons work.
Your post is bad and you should feel bad.
Lol, you’re the one who doesn’t seem to understand how weapons work, so I’ll just continue on with my day.
Not really, just means more targets.
Yeah, I guess more targets wouldn’t make things difficult in the heat of battle.
Especially if these targets are shooting back at you.
You have no idea how the modern battlefield works. It is nothing like call of duty with a vast battlefield with a plethora of targets.
It is a hectic blend of small engagements mainly won through surprise and tactics and having a few more targets that you know the location of compared to the overwhelming number of possible surprises isn’t that big of a change.
Sounds like you don’t understand how any battlefield works.
That’s The Most Dangerous Game, not “a battalion fighting against their own country”.
Well, there is a chance they’ll miss as there are hundreds of russians caught by the Ukrainians. Lets hope they liberate their country men.
Best case, the POWs and Ukrainian Forces both have a clear understanding of surrender procedurals.
The fact that they won’t be “fighting” fighting…
More likely, they’ll be told to blindly run towards hidden Ukrainian positions to help expose them. All while being shot at by russians behind them. It’s disgusting, the thought of being forced into friendly fire for tactical gain…
A weird symmetry with the tales about russian squads that are singularly tasked with shooting any russian that retreats…
They will most likely be used to attract javelin missiles in barely working vehicles while flanked by tanks or they will find anti infantry mines the hard way. There is no escape except death.
Most likely being executed by higher ups.
They could also kill those higher-ups first. I’m not sure why the Russians think giving them guns will work out well for them.
A Russian battalion has 900 men. The article stated that there were only about 70 POW’s. Basically they are surrounded by Russian soldiers so even with weapons they would only be able to take out a few people around them before being killed themselves.
If they’re being sent to die anyway, why not take out people around them?
It’s easy to say that when you aren’t the one dying
Because escaping and living is still the best option.
They might convince their squad mates to defect and surrender.
Most likely scenario.
The Russians don’t always give their soldiers guns.
Everybody sleeps, everybody bleeds.
In the real world it is a lot harder for people being threatened by violence to risk their lives for a positive group outcome than it seems to those of us sitting in our chairs in no direct danger.
Most people don’t want to be the one who dies trying for the positive group outcome.
Bullets