The former Minister of Security of the so-called “DPR” and the current military commander of the “DPR” Oleksandr Khodakovsky stated that the fire of his own troops could have caused up to 60% of the total losses of Russia after the operation in Mariupol, from the middle of May

Even if these statistics are exaggerated, the fact that a Russian commander is publicly speculating about such a damaging indicator of the competence of the Russians and their support forces points to serious challenges facing Moscow’s forces, the Institute for the Study of War says.

So-called “friendly fire” causes a limited number of casualties during the war, but usually does not approach 60% of the total casualties, indicating a lack of communication and coordination of lines of fire, command and control in the Russian forces.

Frequent turnover of Russian military commanders, promotion of inexperienced soldiers, and improvisation in the composition of Moscow’s forces, which include Russian contract soldiers, Russian mobilized soldiers, forces of the DPR and LPR, as well as forces of the Wagner group, increase fragmentation. of the Russian chain of command and the ineffectiveness of its forces, and probably contributes to the frequent incidents of them firing at each other.

– Why are you shooting at us?

The military commandant of the “DNR” complained about the situation in a post on Telegram, where he talked about several incidents in which Russians and their auxiliary forces killed each other.

For example, he told how, during the execution of the action, projectiles began to hit them from behind the position:

“By whom? From where? We take a helicopter, find a mortar battery, rush there…

– Who are you!?

– A noob from some regiment in Russia.

– Why are you shooting at us?

— We are not hitting you, but a point on the map. We are given a task – we fulfill it.

– No one corrects you, you draw on the map, like in the old days…

– Well, it is…”

Incredible cases of “friendly fire”

Another related case concerned the mining of terrain on the orders of a general who did not know about the movement of the front line:

“We entered the industrial zone, occupied the buildings, held them at night, and in the morning took turns with other groups so that the boys could rest. We start the rotation and I follow the route… From where? The army general ordered his engineers to mine the front, which had advanced in twenty-four hours, but the general did not even bother to ask. As a result, several people died, including the tank crew, including the commander of the tank company, who was on his way to receive the task.”

“They thought they had learned to at least stop doing this kind of nonsense. (…) Military gentlemen, take control of the situation – it’s time to grow up,” he concluded in a Telegram post.