National Resistance Center: Mounting cases of Russian commanders killing own service personnel

There is a growing tendency among Russian officers in the Western Military District to commit violence against their subordinates, Ukraine's National Resistance Center reported on Feb. 11, citing undisclosed sources.

Poor morale has reportedly plagued Russian forces since the start of the all-out war against Ukraine, and cases of executions and soldiers disobeying orders have been recorded.

A number of military court verdicts related to murders of service personnel by on-duty unit commanders have been recorded in Russia's Kursk Oblast, the center claimed.

These incidents are reportedly caused by mutually hostile behavior by both service personnel and commanders or linked to alcohol and drug intoxication.

At the beginning of February, the Kursk Garrison Military Court sentenced a senior ensign to 14 years in prison for shooting a group of subordinates while heavily intoxicated by alcohol, according to the report.

Kursk Oblast lies at the border with Ukraine's Sumy Oblast.

White House: Russia endures heavy losses near Avdiivka, suffers from low morale

“We have information that the Russian military actually executed soldiers who refused to obey orders,” U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said during the press briefing, according to European Pravda’s correspondent.

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek