Ukraine War12 May, 20262 min read
Russian Soldiers Say Superiors Executed Comrades, While Ukraine Faces Food Supply Crisis
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Comrades executed on orders from Russian superiors. Internal violence includes punitive executions and impunity within the Russian army.
Executions and hunger
The BBC reported that Russian soldiers told it they had witnessed comrades executed on orders from their superiors, including a commander who was decorated as a hero of Russia in 2024. One BBC witness described the moment he saw a killing: "click, clack, bang, he said," and another said he saw his commander shoot four men himself.
“I saw him at two or three meters away... click, clack, bang, he said.”
In parallel, Al Jazeera reported that Ukrainian fighters faced food supply in crisis, with Anastasia Silchuk saying on social media on April 22 that fighters were "Starving" after up to 17 days without food deliveries and months without rotation. Al Jazeera also quoted Oleksandr describing weeks without real meals, saying: "You dream of a hot meal, because what you get for weeks is chocolate bars, oatmeal and a bottle of water a day."
Testimony and internal violence
The BBC documentary account, Line Zero: At the Heart of the Russian War, described Russian troops calling attacks "flesh storms" as waves of men were sent across the front line to exhaust Ukrainian forces. The BBC also said one soldier provided detailed lists proving he was the sole survivor of a group of 79 men mobilized with him, after he refused to go to the front and was tortured and humiliated.
L’Essentiel de l’Éco framed the same broader pattern as a wave of internal violence in Ukraine, saying "an invisible line runs through the trenches" that separates soldiers from their own commanders. A Russian investigative media outlet, Verstka, was cited by L’Essentiel de l’Éco as having gathered around a hundred cases identified by name, and it quoted a soldier from the 114th Motorized Brigade saying: 'You never know if you’re going to die from an Ukrainian bullet or a Russian bullet.'
Numbers, mobilization, and risk
Le magazine GEO reported that Oleksandr Syrskyi said 710,000 Russian soldiers would now be mobilized as part of a new Russian offensive in Ukraine, an increase of about 20 percent in Russian forces in Ukraine. The same article said Russia had previously been estimated at 600,000 men versus 150,000 in February 2022, and it described a risky winter strategy as Russian logistics appear weakened.
Le magazine GEO also said Ukraine has deliberately targeted Russian logistics and supply lines, and it cited Forbes noting that Ukrainian drones and bombers pulverize Russian supply vehicles in kill zones. In the BBC account, the British Defense Ministry said more than 1.2 million Russian soldiers have been killed or injured since the large-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, while the BBC said the Russian government claims its armed forces operate with the greatest restraint and treat personnel with the greatest care.