They’re not attacking in large numbers supported by helicopter air support—a system which gave them momentary success on the first day. They’re not attacking in the kind of small, squad-level probing attacks that have been typical for most actions over the past year. Instead, Russian commanders seem to be grouping their forces into nice, bite-sized pieces. Then they’re driving them out into the middle of a field littered with the flaming remains of earlier losses, to be smashed by Ukrainian drones and artillery.
Maybe it’s not madness. But it sure looks like madness.
If Russian commanders were trying to demolish their own army, it’s hard to think how they could do it more efficiently.
On the other hand, this does seem to represent a kind of impressive, if horrifying, discipline. Maybe Russia really does have a faction of troops set aside to force their fellow soldiers to advance or be shot. If not … how in the hell are they getting people to keep doing this?
Someone back in Russia is probably going to write a poem about the guys trying to make this advance at Avdiivka. But if that poem doesn’t end with them frogmarching their commanders forward as part of a general surrender, it’s going to be one very sad poem.