Members of a newly formed Russian assault unit say their commanders deployed “blocking troops” to prevent them from retreating and threatened them with death after they suffered “huge” casualties in eastern Ukraine, reports Guardian.

In a video addressed to President Vladimir Putin, a group of men in military uniform say they survived the Defense Ministry’s Sturm unit.

“We have been under mortar and artillery fire for 14 days,” said Russian military officer Oleksandr Gorin in a call that first appeared on Russian Telegram channels on Friday. “We suffered huge losses. Thirty-four people were injured and 22 were killed, including our commander.”

Another soldier said the unit initially had 161 men at the start of the operation.

“They want to execute us as witnesses,” says Russian soldier Oleksandr Gorin

Gorin said that his men decided to return to the headquarters of the Russian army, but their superiors refused to evacuate them: “They set up blocking troops for us and did not let us leave our positions… They threatened us that they would destroy one by one and as a whole. They want to execute us as witnesses of absolutely negligent criminal leadership.”

Blockade forces or counter-retreat forces are military units positioned behind forward forces to maintain discipline and prevent desertion.

It is not the first time that Russians talk about “blocking troops”. A conversation between a Russian conscript and his wife intercepted in October 2022 by the Security Service of Ukraine showed the organization of Russian troops at the front and the work of “blocking troops” who are supposed to shoot conscripts in the event of an escape attempt.

• “It is impossible to escape, ours will be shot.” How Russian “blocking troops” work to prevent conscripts from fleeing the front in Ukraine

“Our commanders are a criminal organization. It is impossible to say otherwise,” said another Russian military man, who called himself Sergei Moldanov.

The Guardian identified eight men in the video. When contacted, three of them confirmed that they were members of the Storm unit and confirmed the account in the video.

The men, who asked not to be named, said they had been evacuated from the front line.

The “Storm” unit was created by the Ministry of Defense in January to participate in Moscow’s winter offensive in eastern Ukraine. During the formation, the ministry noted that the unit was “specially designed to work out the most difficult areas of defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

According to Russian media reports, as well as photos published on the accounts of several fighters on social networks, the unit consists mainly of Russian veterans who took part in Russia’s first offensive against Ukraine in 2014.

Their call is the latest in a steady stream of similar videos that have surfaced since January in which Russian soldiers complain of mistreatment.

• VIDEO A wave of footage shows Russian soldiers complaining about being used as “cannon fodder” and sent to commit suicide

The message indicates that Russian forces continue to suffer from low morale and poor management. The videos are also evidence of Moscow’s willingness to send its soldiers to positions where they are at risk of certain death in an attempt to break through Ukrainian defenses.

In November last year, the British Ministry of Defense said that Russian forces had probably begun deploying blocking forces. “The tactics of shooting defectors probably indicate the low quality, low morale and indiscipline of the Russian troops,” the agency said in a statement.