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Russia uses injured soldiers, POWs in human wave attacks, Telegraph reports

by Abbey Fenbert and The Kyiv Independent news desk July 14, 2024 11:51 PM 2 min read
A wounded Ukrainian soldier is transferred from a car to an ambulance as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, in the direction of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on May 27, 2024. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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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.

Russia’s advance toward key eastern highway threatens Ukraine’s grip of Donetsk Oblast
Outgunned and outmanned, Ukrainian soldiers struggling to hold the front line in a brutal, months-long Russian siege of Chasiv Yar are increasingly worried about their army’s ability to protect their rear. If key supply lines from the west are cut off and if troops to their south are overrun, they
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