White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military of executing soldiers who don’t follow orders while serving in Ukraine.
Russia’s military has been accused before of killing its own troops. Along with Ukrainian military intelligence releasing multiple audio clips that it says are intercepted phone calls of Russian soldiers talking about units turning on troops, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) in November reported on the presence of Russian “barrier troops” or “blocking units” that threaten to shoot retreating personnel.
While speaking to reporters, Kirby indicated that the United States has direct information of members of the Russia military executing disobedient troops.
“We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders,” Kirby said. “We also have information that Russian commanders are threatening to execute entire units if they seek to retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire.”
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment.
John Kirby, White House national security spokesperson, is pictured at the White House in Washington, D.C., while Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, inset, is shown at the Kremlin in Moscow. Kirby on Thursday accused Putin’s military of executing troops who do not follow orders.
Anna Moneymaker/SERGEI GUNEYE/AFP/Getty Images
Kirby’s comments came during a press briefing in which he discussed what he characterized as low morale in Russia’s ranks due to high casualty rates sustained while fighting in Avdiivka.
Russia’s armed forces have sunk heavy resources in an attempt to capture Avdiivka, a city in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Kyiv’s military has claimed thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed and hundreds of pieces of military equipment destroyed during fighting over the settlement. (Newsweek is unable to independently verify the casualty figures reported by Kyiv.)
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank on Wednesday said Russia’s Avdiivka offensive had “made a confirmed advance” to the city’s northwest but added Putin’s forces around Avdiivka were unlikely to be able to encircle the city.
During Thursday’s press conference, Kirby also condemned Russian commanders for the alleged soldier executions.
“It’s reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn’t want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units, it’s barbaric. But I think it’s a symptom of how poorly Russia’s military leaders know they’re doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective,” he said.
Kirby continued: “From the very beginning, we’ve been talking about poor command and control, poor logistics and sustainment. They can’t feed their guys in the field, for crying out loud. And now, again, they’re willing to shoot them for … not following orders.”
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