74 Comments

I agree with Ryan. If this was a Ukrainian position it was over run MONTHs earlier.

These videos no longer bother me. When I see the video this week of Russia bombing the city of Odesa with cluster munitions I think this treatment of the Russian military is actually TOO GOOD for them. They deserve far worse.

It's soldiers pulling the triggers, mashing the buttons, and picking target packages. I hope they all die. If they die horribly and that video makes one Russia man decide to not join the war... then good.

I also want to say about casualty evac... there are now 100s of videos of Russian soldiers killing themselves because they know the other option is to die horrifically. No one is coming. Some are calling it..."Putin's Kiss".

I believe in two things. Morality and duty. Russian's have a moral duty to stop this war. They have a moral duty (as do all of us) to produce a form of government that works nice and plays well with others. Short of this, the next best thing is for the west and Ukraine to kill as many Russians has it takes to end the war. Horrific as that may be, it seems to be the only solution if the Russian people continue to be cowards.

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I did watch the whole video. I'm an ex-cop, a Marine Vietnam vet, ex-paramedic. These "crime scene" vids tell me a lot and are not a waste of my time. It looks to me like these poor schmucks got caught in a large TOT.

I agree with your guess that the guys taping this video were pretty much used to large scale death. The camera guy did not linger on any bodies like a newbie might do. They had a scrounging job to do and they were doing it. I also agree that some folks had already picked over that area.

The bodies and the ground were relatively clean of blood and gore, so I suspect they'd been out in the elements for awhile being washed off in rain, etc. I also agree that they had probably been killed earlier in winter as the bodies and parts were not significantly decomposed so were probably frozen for a time. It bugs me that the Russians don't seem to care about their dead. As a Marine, that is the distasteful part of the whole thing. From what I've read, their lack of a casevac plan is intentional as the Russians seem to be operating under the theory of "no body, no proof of death, ergo no death benefits."

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In video he says "f-ck, 6 months ago I would be very touched by all that"

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I can't imagine what the ordinary russian thinks of their military. Does anyone there choose it as a career? Or is it for the poor to access a paying job? Do their people respect military men and women like we do? Ha.

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Yes, it seems they were caught off guard. I could not see any shelters of fox holes one would expect to be dug as soon as one moved into a new position.

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I saw a couple of holes that might have been half-assed fighting positions, but most of the dead were obviously caught in the open and a couple were in or half-in a couple of holes. As I said, it appeared they got caught in a TOT artillery strike. Probably at least an artillery battalion sized TOT by the extent of it. If so, good job by the gun bunnies.

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I support Ukraine unreservedly and have put my money where my mouth is. But I spent a minute or two as a Marine NCO. Part of me can’t help but feel a little sympathy for those dead grunts. It’s not support for their cause or their leaders that I’m voicing. Ukraine will win. No doubt.

Just can’t help but shake my head at the waste of it all. Glory to Ukraine.

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I put my money where my mouth is and my body in the danger zone for 5 months of this conflict. I don't believe it's a foregone conclusion that Ukraine will win. Ukraine SHOULD win and we in the West have a vested interest in making sure Ukraine wins for all that is good for us and Ukraine. Ukraine could become one of Europe's strongest supporters like Poland is and we NEED to make sure Ukraine wins and we need to have Ukraine win ALL of Ukraine back. Crimea and the Donbas included. I utterly hate the cowardice shown by the Allies so far. We really need to give Ukraine everything we can. I mean shit I wish we had the guts to use F35's and F22's at night to just run wild weasel into Ukraine to take out all the ground based air defense systems and to destroy any aircraft getting anywhere near Ukraine. But then if we were doing that who knows, maybe we are. ruzzia lost two A-50 AWACS planes with no discernible idea of how Ukraine managed to do that. I truly truly hope that the F22 took them down and the US/UK/NATO is doing covert ops to set the battlefield for when the F16's arrive in Ukraine.

The current biggest problem is that 75% of the men I helped train in Ukraine are dead or grievously injured to the point they can no longer serve. And that was just one battalion that was a defensive unit in Kherson. They need manpower so bad and I just wish I could go back over and help fight in this meat grinder. It doesn't have to be this way though, 1/10th of US power would end this war in days and I feel like the US specifically decided to drag this on because it's in the US interest to bring all the ruzzian equipment and manpower in to be ground to dirt and all it costs is less than 5% of one year's military spending budget and 0% American lives other than the ones that went to volunteer and died in service to human rights and freedom.

Sorry for the wall of text. Just puking up my opinion and thoughts because I'm so mad and frustrated that my friends and the men we trained continue to die when it could be over if the Allies had a backbone. I just feel like my great grandfather who fought Germany and Japan would look on our society today with utter disappointment for the sacrifices of his generation and how we didn't answer the call with all furor with the lessons his generation taught us.

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Well said, Sir. Couldn’t agree more with your assessment. Thank you for your service in Ukraine. Training up Ukraine’s fighters is the embodiment of friendship. LONG LIVE THE FIGHTERS! You, my friend, are a great friend to Ukraine. Wish NATO had your courage.

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Hate to be the one to bring it up...but the US sat out the first 2.5yrs of WWII for many of the same reasons they are sitting on the sidelines. Thats NOT a commentary on the men and women that served in WWII, more its a comment on government and public opinion when it comes to "foreign" wars. The only wayvthe US is getting directly involved in this one is if Russia pulls a boner and accidently/intentionally attacks a US asset or triggers article 5

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Aye, the parallels to the last two world wars are uncanny, with contemporary political dialogue. I wish more people would take note of their history classes - or that history would actually be taught - as we are seeing a repeat. And it is incredibly sad, as this video proves. But not just this video - many others from today, and many more pictures and videos from the last two world wars that demonstrate what happens when the world looks the other way until too late. I really don't understand how people think because it's black and white, it's somehow disconnected, yet when it's colour it's real. These sorts of videos are prolific, especially from the Second World War when many units had official photographers and film reporting was becoming more common. And yet we see the repeat today. We really don't learn, not humanity as a whole.

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I think if it wasnt for the nucleur threat, real or imagined, that western forces would have committed ground forces months ago. At this point its still a balancing act between providing and containing the conflict. Apart from the nuclear wild card it is a case of history repeating itself, and not just in Ukraine.

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founding

I hate what Putin has made me into. The more Russians killed, the better. I'm not proud of it, but until someone can tell me a better way than killing Russians, it's all I got. Go home Ivan, and live a long and prosperous life. Or at least as much as Vlad allows you.

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May 2·edited May 2

I feel the same. War seems to make beasts of us all.

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"It is well war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it."

That quote is allegedly from Gen. Robert E. Lee but I don't think it's ever been verified with certainty that he said it. Sort of like with Mark Twain quotes. Regardless, the sentiment is genuine if nothing else.

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War Is terrible but it Is, also, vulgar.

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I've always seen that quote attributed to Sherman. #shrug

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founding

For what it's worth, I noticed a Russian flag on the butt stock of one of the collected weapons.

Thank you for your cautions. I watched because I believe those who support armed conflict, whatever its cause, need to reconcile that support with its consequences. Those of us who have been spared combat need to see that warfare is not some abstract condition but something that results the mutilated bodies of sons and brothers in the dirt Every. Last. One.

I hope that everyone who reads this who knows someone with PTSD will do everything they can to prevent them from seeing this as I am certain it would be triggering.

Watching, I was reminded that many of those lying there did not want to fight but found themselves coerced by their goverment or their personal condition in an economically devistated Russia. I also hope we can now be better informed to the realities of war and remember that soldiers are not commodities to be used but people to cherished.

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Appreciate the time stamps to avoid watching the full video.

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The Soviet Union was the Second World in the First World, Second World, Third World model; the way that the Russian military and Putin treat their soldiers, is worse than what I would expect from the worst Third World country. At this point, I’d be tempted to classify Russia as a Fourth World country. The inhumanity shown by the Russians to civilians and their own troops causes me to temper my pity for these men.

I guess, after centuries of similar treatment by their leaders, the Russian people accept this as the life of a Russian.

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I think the Russian people are among the most desensitized to violence and hardship on the planet.

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God Bless Ukraine. Russia will never stop. Not until Putin is dead. That will be the only thing to end this war on their side.

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That’s what has traditionally stopped wars started by dictatorships. It’s why Putin hides among his doppelgängers in Stalin’s bunkers.

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You have to wonder what kind of government allows for so many of its citizens to be killed this way and not care one iota. It’s a corrupt government run by individuals who only care about protecting their wealth and willing to sacrifice thousands of its own ignorant citizens who don’t know any better or are too afraid to rebel and stand up and face these mafiosos. This will go on until someone reaches the very steps of the Kremlin, and only when they see their immediate lives threaten will they cease this madness and beg for mercy or plead ignorance. They all hide under putlers skirt.

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The average Russian citizen may be somewhat ignorant. Is Russia capable of denying its citizens access to certain social media platforms that show these videos? Even if so, you'd think there'd be signs. That this has been going on so long and they've switched to a wartime economy should be an indicator. They're mass producing artillery shells and they're refurbishing their old Cold War stockpile of tanks 24/7. Yeah, they're losing a lot of stuff but they can absorb such loses better than Ukraine which I fear is being bled white. That said, you'd think thousands of Russian men not coming home would spark something within the Russian populace.

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There is a growing rebellion in Russia, and like the old tradition; it is being lead by the Mothers, Wives, and Daughters of the soldiers who just stopped existing. The group that can collapse a war economy in days. Now it’s just waiting for the when.

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At least 7 bodies has our id marks. Rest of them seems to be Russians.

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Dou you think they were prisoners, or maybe the former "inhabitants" of the position?

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May 2·edited May 2

These were Ukrainian positions, later taken by russians. In beginning of the video he even tells "you know, Ukrainians had very nice trenches here"

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Yeah, I'd say that multiple fights happened there, based upon how some bodies looked more fresh than others. With the tree bursts, artillery was a main contributor most likely.

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Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Animae eorum et omnium fidelium defunctorum per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace. Amen. Sicut semen humatum in terra, tu dedisti nobis messem vitae aeternae; fac nos semper peccato mortuos et Deo vivos

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@8:33 the plastic bottle has lots of tiny perforations so may be from the 182k tungsten BBs in the enhanced warhead himars rockets. What do you think @RyanMcbeth ?

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great catch

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We Americans are used to having low casualties and being able to care for our dead and wounded. In WWI, the fighting was too fierce and bodies stayed where they fell. In Verdun, the French built an ossuary, 100 yards long, with windows set alongside so you can peer in. Inside are an immense pile on bones, both French and German, of probably tens of thousands of individuals. The death toll was so immense that the bones laid there until after the war, when they were scooped up and piled into mountains. C'est la guerre.

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Pretty sure they are Russian. They spoke Russian and said how well the Ukrainian held that point. They also used a derogatory word "hahol" when referring to the Ukranians which is something Russians use, so I would say the dudes are Russian. Scary sights man.

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We know the video is Russia made. The issue: who are the dead.

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Amen

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