Ukraine has launched a new super battalion of Russians who have turned their back on Vladimir Putin's army on the invading country
Since Putin first ordered his troops to invade his neighbours nearly two years ago, there have been claims of Russian refusing to fight but being forced to do so anyway or being thrown into prison. However, it now appears that a large group of those have made it known to Ukraine that they want to fight for them and against Russian forces.
Called the Siberian Battalion, it includes some huge names, including Alexei Makarov, who used ot be a part of the National Bolshevik political party, and anti-Kremlin Russian activist, Ildar Dadin, AFP reports. One fighter, who goes by the call sign Grecha, said: “I took the decision to get into Ukraine as soon as possible to fight against Russia, against the Putin regime, against imperialism.
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“We need to free Ukraine, the motherland where I was born in Crimea, that's my dream. In Russia at the moment there is a dictatorship which of course I am extremely unhappy about, because it might not concretely affect me right now: I'm not in jail, I'm not a foreign agent but I feel the state gives less and less freedom to its citizens.
“Sooner or later it will be one big concentration camp, basically it already is.”
It has not been made public where the unit is based, or what impact it has had in the war yet, however. The group could add further misery to Putin's forces, after it was revealed earlier this week that his army has suffered losses of nearly 290k.
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According to Russia's deputy labour minister Alexei Vovchenko, around 54% of those injured have lost limbs as a result of the war, which he called earlier this week a “vivid problem – it's a lot”. The figures vary widely depending on where you look, however, with the ones cited by the Daily Star coming from Ukraine's officials, while Russia has never officially confirmed its losses.
And another figure of 190k losses or injuries in total is also cited by some, but none of it has been able to officially be confirmed while Kremlin officials keep schtum on the details. However, in July, it was revealed that the losses figure could actually be much small than what Ukraine claims, with anti-Kremlin Russian media outlet Meduza teaming with Mediazone and Tubingen University to calculate that Russia has actually seen between 40,000 and 55,000 soldiers killed in battle.
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