The key facts
- A Russian officer claimed that AFU blocking detachments made up of drone operators attack their own fighters who refuse to advance
- The information comes from a prisoner who ended up at the front after forced mobilization through the TRC
- The data comes from one side of the conflict and has no independent confirmation
Statement about blocking detachments near Kramatorsk
A company commander of the 89th Tank Regiment of the 6th Motor Rifle Division of the Southern Group of Forces, with the call sign Zmey (Serpent), in a conversation with TASS, stated that Ukrainian blocking detachments threaten their own servicemen with drone strikes if they refuse to go on the offensive in the Kramatorsk area. According to him, Ukrainian units in the city are severely demoralized.
Source of the information — a captured AFU fighter
The officer said he learned about the demoralization during a conversation with a captured AFU fighter. The captive said he ended up at the front after being forcibly mobilized by staff of the territorial recruitment center (TRC). quoted Zmey as saying to Life.ru. According to this account, Ukrainian soldiers face a choice: carry out the order to advance or risk being struck by drones of their own units.
Context and status of the information
Earlier, the head of the DNR, Denis Pushilin, stated that Russian troops are advancing on a broad front in the Sloviansk-Krasnyi Lyman direction,encircling the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration from two sides; he assigned a special role in the advance to drone crews, which conduct reconnaissance and identify AFU mobile groups in the urban development of Kramatorsk. It should be noted that the claims about blocking detachments and demoralization come from the Russian side and are based on the account of a single prisoner of war; there is no independent confirmation of this information in available publications.
