Vladimir Putin is coming under fire from Moscow’s elite and senior Russian politicians over the “stupid losses” of around 400 soldiers who were killed in a horrific HIMAR missile attack which destroyed a makeshift barracks and wounded another 300 in the town of Makiivka.
Senior politicians are now turning their backs on Putin and there are calls from Moscow that the Russian leader should now be tried for treason.
A senior Russian politician called for Putin to be tried for “treason” and if not then “the country is over,” he warned.
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Politicians are furious that hundreds of their troops were allowed to be using the ammunition storage site as a barracks, which would obviously be a target for Ukrainian forces.
Andrey Medvedev, deputy speaker of the Moscow City Duma, said authorities must value Russian lives.
“Either a person is of the highest value – and then punish for stupid losses of personnel, as for treason to the fatherland – or the country is over,” he warned on Telegram.
🚨 Armed Forces of #Ukraine struck a large Russian base in #Makeevka in occupied #Donetsk, reporting that up to 400 Russian soldiers have been killed and another 300 injured.
Excellent use of Precision Guided Munitions, probably #HIMARS or #M270. pic.twitter.com/Q5gFUuFIxr— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) January 1, 2023
US-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) warned that the “profound military failures” will likely complicate Putin’s efforts to appease the Russian pro-war community, who are increasingly critical of the leadership.
ISW added, “Putin’s inability to address the criticism and fix the flaws in Russia’s military campaign may undermine his credibility as a hands-on war leader.”
Russian military bloggers have reacted with anger after the Ukrainian attack killed hundreds.
Igor Girkin, a separatist military veteran, said hundreds were killed and wounded in the missile attack, and added, the building itself was “almost completely destroyed.”
Exiled Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov said the dead and injured soldiers were buried in the rubble and claimed that no effort has been made to rescue them.
He said, “The uncounted and uninteresting bodies will remain to rot under the concrete rubble.
“Soldiers’ meat in Russia is so cheap that it makes no sense to count.”
Sergei Mironov, a legislator and former chairman of the Senate, Russia’s upper house, has demanded criminal liability for those officials who had “allowed” so many troops in one building.
He said, “the concentration of military personnel in an unprotected building” and “all the higher authorities who did not provide the proper level of security.”
Archangel Spetznaz Z, a Russian military blogger with more than 700,000 followers on the Telegram messaging app, said, “What happened in Makiivka is horrible.
“Who came up with the idea to place personnel in large numbers in one building, where even a fool understands that even if they hit with artillery, there will be many wounded or dead?”
Other high-profile pro-Moscow military bloggers have also reacted with fury, branding Moscow’s military leadership as “fools” who do not value soldier’s lives.
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