Russian Brigade Suspends Paying Injured Troops as Morale Collapses: Ukraine

A Russian brigade has been forced to stop paying its wounded soldiers amid huge losses, with the army struggling to maintain its invasion of Ukraine. That's according to military officials from the defending side.

The claims were made in a daily briefing posted online at 6 a.m. local time Tuesday by Ukraine's military, which provided detailed updates about battles on various fronts as the country seeks to repel the forces sent in by Russian President Vladimir Putin back in February.

Among the updates, which are provided in Ukrainian and English, an excerpt read: "Due to heavy losses during the hostilities, the level of morale and psychological state in the units formed in the temporarily occupied territories decreased significantly.

"According to available information, in order to improve the state of combat readiness of the 2nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 2nd Army Corps, the command of the brigade issued an order not to pay stipends to servicemen who are temporarily absent, in particular, undergoing treatment. Resumption of payments occurs only after the presentation of supporting documents and with the personal permission of the commander."

Newsweek has been unable to independently verify the claims, and has sought comment from both Ukraine and Russia.

The move, if Ukraine's assessment is correct, would seem designed to prevent soldiers from lingering away from the front lines and force them either to return to duty or prove they are genuinely too sick to continue fighting in order to continue to receive their checks.

Russia's pay for its soldiers seems to have been an issue throughout the entire campaign. The U.K's Ministry of Defence released a report earlier this month, which said: "Russian forces continue to suffer from morale and discipline issues in Ukraine. In addition to combat fatigue and high casualties, one of the main grievances from deployed Russian soldiers probably continues to be problems with their pay... In Ukraine, there has highly likely been significant problems with sizeable combat bonuses not being paid. This is probably due to inefficient military bureaucracy, the unusual legal status of the 'special military operation', and at least some outright corruption amongst commanders...The Russian military has consistently failed to provide basic entitlements to troops deployed in Ukraine, including appropriate uniform, arms, and rations as well as pay. This has almost certainly contributed to the fragile morale of much of the force."

The latest claims from Ukraine that an entire Russian brigade has now halted pay for wounded absent soldiers comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky's troops made huge strides in the war and forced Russia back in a humiliating retreat that marked a significant setback for the military – and further weakened its morale.

U.S. think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) released an analytical report on Monday and concluded: "Ukrainian forces have inflicted a major operational defeat on Russia, recapturing almost all Kharkiv Oblast in a rapid counter-offensive. The Ukrainian success resulted from skillful campaign design and execution that included efforts to maximize the impact of Western weapons systems such as HIMARS... Russian troops likely withdrew from the area in great haste, and social media posts show abandoned tanks and other heavy military equipment near Izyum, which indicates that Russian troops failed to organize a coherent retreat."

Last week, the same think tank described how Ukraine was succeeding in a "war of attrition" against Russia as it relentlessly ground away at the Russian side, "degrading" its resources and bureaucratic capabilities.

Even state TV hosts seem to be accepting that victory may be impossible and have instead called for peace, while dozens of Russian officials signed a petition calling on Putin to resign in a rare show of dissent this week that suggests public opinion may be turning.