Russian forces are sending injured soldiers back to the front and using Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) as shields in "human wave" attacks, the Telegraph reported on July 14, citing front-line Ukrainian troops.
Human wave assaults are frontal attacks launched by infantry units without armored vehicles or other defensive shields. Russia has deployed such attacks in its full-scale war against Ukraine, notably in the battle to capture Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast.
Ukrainian soldiers have said that Russia often fails to evacuate injured troops and at times sends its own injured soldiers back to the battlefield as part of these formations.
Wounded Russian soldiers are "simply left in positions to die," a Ukrainian soldier identified by the call sign "Hunter" told the Telegraph.
"This is a common situation when wounded Russian soldiers are captured," Hunter said.
"According to them, they were left to their fate without food and water to die by their own comrades."
Hunter and other soldiers also reported witnessing Ukrainian POWs forced to walk in front of Russian units.
"Of course, I have seen PoWs, this is outrageous and tearing us apart from the inside, such an attitude towards prisoners of war is unacceptable and prohibited by conventions," said Yurii, a machine gunner.
According to leaked documents from the U.S. Defense Department, between 462,000 and 728,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, injured, or captured in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
These losses exceed the number of Russian troops who were preparing for the invasion in February 2022. The estimates also surpass Russia's cumulative casualties in military conflicts since World War II.
Russia continues to recruit 25,000 to 30,000 new soldiers a month, the New York Times (NYT) reported in late June.
This allows the Russian army to replenish its troops in order to continue launching human wave-style attacks, the NYT said.
Asami Terajima
(Updated: )
