Pictures show how injured Russian soldiers get terrified as they were awarded bravery medals for their role in Putin’s invasion.
Alexander Fomin, Russian Deputy Defense Minister, has hailed Russian soldiers’ war efforts and gave awards to their wounded troops as they silently sat in a row of wheelchairs.
Many of the troops were missing limbs, presumably having lost them in combat, and looked full of despair. Footage broadcast by the Kremlin-controlled Channel One showed Fomin awarding each of the soldiers a medal.
The soldiers appeared frozen and stared blankly as officials commended their war efforts, despite the Colonel-General’s enthusiasm, they all looked shellshocked and full of despair.
Fomin greeted each ailing troop with a handshake before pinning a medal to their chest. Fomin said: “You all carried out the orders assigned to you; you all gave one hundred percent. Like real men, like real soldiers, you continued the glorious military traditions of our grandfathers and fathers.”
In another video, a bedbound soldier who lost his leg in the bloody conflict looked wide-eyed and scared as deputy Russian defense minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov stood over him in a hospital.
Yevkurov said: “I hope you’ll get back on your feet,” as he gave a medal to the scarred soldier. MailOnline reports that the minister asked him questions, the crippled soldier managed just a few words in response as he stared blankly up at him.
Although the exact number of fatalities on either side is difficult to work out, a high Ukrainian estimate has put the number of Russian deaths during the war at 16,000.
There have been numerous reports of morale dropping among the Russian forces since the country invaded on February 24. Some soldiers claimed that they were unaware they were heading for an all-out war, instead suggesting that they thought they were headed on a training exercise.
The country is now littered with the bodies of Russian soldiers and conscripts, many of them teenagers, and the burnt-out remains of tanks and armored vehicles.
One soldier allegedly drove his tank into his commanding officer as he protested horrific losses among his comrades while Colonel Yuri Medvedev was hospitalized with severe leg injuries after the reported incident.
A terrified Russian soldier told his gran he wants to “get the f*** out” of Ukraine and expected the war to be over in two weeks. The unnamed soldier was heard speaking in an intercepted telephone call home released by the Ukrainian government.
A Russian fighter also surrendered with a tank in return for $9,847 and Ukrainian citizenship. The man, named Misha, waved the white flag and begged to switch sides after military colleagues ran away and his commander threatened to put him down.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is said to be close to major victories in the battle for Kyiv as British defense officials said there was now a “realistic possibility” that the towns of Bucha and Irpin would be encircled by Ukrainian forces.
The Ministry of Defense said Russian troops are facing “considerable supply and moral issues” and it was unlikely they would be able to regroup and take the capital.
On Friday, Russia signaled for the first time that it was giving up on plans to capture Kyiv and would focus instead on liberating rebels in the east. President Zelensky says 16,000 Russian troops have passed away since the invasion.