Ukraine: Russian officers mutiny as troops given 1960s tanks

Senior Russian officers are said to have mutinied on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, in Ukraine. Picture: AFP

Senior Russian officers are said to have mutinied on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine as the head of the Wagner Group of mercenaries warned that the Kremlin’s frontline positions could collapse unless his fighters received new supplies of munitions.

According to the Ukrainian military, the rebellion by Russian officers occurred near Vuhledar, a town southwest of Donetsk, the largest city held by Kremlin-backed separatists.

Up to 300 marines from Russia’s 155th Brigade were killed each day last month as they tried to storm Vuhledar, Ukrainian officials said.

Russia is also believed to have lost at least 130 tanks and armoured personnel carriers during the three-week battle. Vuhledar remains under Ukrainian control.

“The leaders of the brigade and senior officers are refusing to proceed with a new senseless attack as demanded by their unskilled commanders – to storm well-defended Ukrainian positions with little protection or preparation,” Ukraine’s military said.

The claim, which could not be verified, came after mobilised troops from Siberia complained of being “cannon fodder” in a video addressed to President Vladimir Putin.

There are other signs of turmoil among Russia’s forces. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, said the push to capture the eastern town of Bakhmut would be endangered if munitions were not delivered.

Only days ago Mr Prigozhin had claimed that Wagner had reached the centre of Bakhmut, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting.

“For now, we are trying to figure out the reason. Is it just ordinary bureaucracy, or a betrayal?” Mr Prigozhin said in a video posted online.

He warned that the delays posed serious problems for Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, saying: “If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse.”

He also claimed that his representative had been barred from the headquarters of Russia’s “special military operation”.

Last month, Mr Prigozhin accused Kremlin defence chiefs of treason over hold-ups in munitions deliveries for Wagner.

In London, the Ministry of Defence said that an elite Russian tank force expecting to receive Moscow’s newest-generation tank, the T-14 Armata, could be supplied instead with Soviet-made T-62 tanks that date from 1961.

Although the vaunted T-14 is said to have been spotted on trains heading towards Ukraine, it is thought that its production has been hampered by Western sanctions.

The T-14 has a troubled history, breaking down in public during rehearsals for a parade in Moscow in 2015. The MoD said some of the Soviet-era tanks had received upgraded sighting systems, but added that “these vintage vehicle types will present many vulnerabilities on the modern battlefield, including the absence of modern explosive-reactive armour”.

A Russian victory in Bakhmut would be the first triumph for Mr Putin’s army in months after a series of humiliating retreats.

Some analysts have said Ukraine is preparing a fighting retreat from the town, which has dubious strategic value. On the ground, however, Ukrainian forces insist they are seeking to hold back Russia’s onslaught.

The MoD also said that Russian reservists in Donbas had been ordered to launch an assault “armed only with firearms and shovels”, probably entrenching tools being employed for hand-to-hand combat. The standard-issue MPL-50 entrenching tool dated from 1869, the MoD said, and “its continued use as a weapon highlights the brutal and low-tech fighting which has come to characterise much of the war”.

The Times