https://sputnikglobe.com/20240101/ukraine-using-blocking-units-after-deploying-too-many-untrained-soldiers-to-frontlines-1115935872.html
Ukraine Using Blocking Units After Deploying ‘Too Many Untrained Soldiers to Frontlines’
Ukraine Using Blocking Units After Deploying ‘Too Many Untrained Soldiers to Frontlines’
Sputnik International
Russian troops have provided Sputnik with footage of fighters from a Ukrainian blocking detachment shooting their own comrades in the back during a Russian advance. Sputnik asked former CIA analyst Larry Johnson why Ukraine’s military might be resorting to such a desperate tactic.
2024-01-01T18:52+0000
2024-01-01T18:52+0000
2024-01-02T11:10+0000
analysis
larry johnson
volodymyr zelensky
ukraine
russia
russian army
ukrainian armed forces
tactics
conflict tactics
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In the Western popular imagination, blocking units, also known as ‘blocking detachments’ or ‘anti-retreat forces’, are probably best remembered from their use in the 2001 Hollywood film ‘Enemy at the Gates’, which depicted untrained, unarmed Red Army soldiers being forced to run toward fortified Nazi German positions in Stalingrad, and getting mowed down ruthlessly by NKVD officers after trying to retreat back to their own lines.The fictional portrayal of such unimaginable cruelty by the army which played the decisive role in liberating Europe from the Nazis was intensely criticized by Russians, and slammed by veterans and others as an unabashed piece of Hollywood propaganda which ‘spit into vets’ souls’.Twenty years after the film's release, after the Donbass crisis deteriorated into a full-scale NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine, Russian media began accusing Ukrainian military of using blocking units in real life to ‘motivate’ troops not to retreat, and collecting evidence, including PoW testimony and video, to prove it.Drone footage published by Sputnik on Sunday showed Ukrainian forces using a blocking detachment to prevent mobilized troops from retreating during a Russian assault. The footage, provided to the news agency by a source familiar with the situation, showed Russian forces assaulting a Ukrainian stronghold, entering a trench, after which Ukrainian soldiers could be seen running out the other side toward positions in the rear, only to be shot at and have grenades thrown at them by their own comrades.The makeup and allegiance of the blocking unit troops remains unclear. It’s unknown whether they were ordinary conscripts, officers, foreign mercenaries or members of Ukraine’s notorious neo-Nazi nationalist battalions – who have been known to man blocking detachment posts in the rear in the past, as per the testimony of captured PoWs.“They have deployed too many untrained soldiers to the frontlines who have no experience or ability to engage in combat operations. This move to create such blocking forces is reminiscent of stories told about political commissars during the Great Patriotic War,” Johnson told Sputnik.President Zelensky tightened up the provisions of Ukraine’s martial law and general mobilization measures in November, and revealed last month that the military is planning to draft an additional 450,000-500,000 people into the military as the meat grinder conflict against Russia shows no signs of deescalating. A Ukrainian general publicly questioned whether such ambitious call-up plans were feasible. Meanwhile, the chief of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said mobilizing that many troops could take at least a year to achieve.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231224/ukrainian-armed-forces-unable-to-mobilize-another-500000-people---reports-1115785623.html
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is ukraine using blocking units, why is ukraine using anti-retreat formations
is ukraine using blocking units, why is ukraine using anti-retreat formations
Ukraine Using Blocking Units After Deploying ‘Too Many Untrained Soldiers to Frontlines’
18:52 GMT 01.01.2024 (Updated: 11:10 GMT 02.01.2024) Russian troops have provided Sputnik with footage of fighters from a Ukrainian blocking detachment shooting their own comrades in the back during a Russian advance. Sputnik asked former CIA analyst Larry Johnson why Ukraine’s military might be resorting to such a desperate tactic.
In the Western popular imagination, blocking units, also known as ‘blocking detachments’ or ‘anti-retreat forces’, are probably best remembered from their use in the 2001 Hollywood film ‘Enemy at the Gates’, which depicted untrained, unarmed Red Army soldiers being forced to run toward fortified Nazi German positions in Stalingrad, and getting mowed down ruthlessly by NKVD officers after trying to retreat back to their own lines.
The fictional portrayal of such unimaginable cruelty by the army which played the decisive role in liberating Europe from the Nazis was intensely criticized by Russians, and slammed by
veterans and
others as an unabashed piece of Hollywood propaganda which ‘spit into vets’ souls’.
Twenty years after the film's release, after the Donbass crisis deteriorated into a full-scale NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine, Russian media began accusing Ukrainian military of using blocking units in real life to ‘motivate’ troops not to retreat, and collecting evidence, including PoW testimony and video, to prove it.
Drone footage
published by Sputnik on Sunday showed Ukrainian forces using a blocking detachment to prevent mobilized troops from retreating during a Russian assault. The footage, provided to the news agency by a source familiar with the situation, showed Russian forces assaulting a Ukrainian stronghold, entering a trench, after which Ukrainian soldiers could be seen running out the other side toward positions in the rear, only to be shot at and have grenades thrown at them by their own comrades.
The makeup and allegiance of the blocking unit troops remains unclear. It’s unknown whether they were ordinary conscripts, officers, foreign mercenaries or members of Ukraine’s notorious neo-Nazi nationalist battalions – who
have been known to man blocking detachment posts in the rear in the past, as per the testimony of captured PoWs.
Whatever the case may be, the use of blocking units is “one more example or symptom of the desperate situation that confronts Ukraine” on the battlefield, says former CIA analyst Larry Johnson.
“They have deployed too many untrained soldiers to the frontlines who have no experience or ability to engage in combat operations. This move to create such blocking forces is reminiscent of stories told about political commissars during the Great Patriotic War,” Johnson told Sputnik.
“At this point, I do not know how widespread this phenomenon is. Is this happening in just an isolated area or is it taking place across the entire front? If it is the latter, then Ukraine is [not] going to be able to field an effective army for much longer,” the observer added.
President Zelensky tightened up the provisions of Ukraine’s martial law and general mobilization measures in November, and revealed last month that the military is planning to draft an additional 450,000-500,000 people into the military as the meat grinder conflict against Russia shows no signs of deescalating. A Ukrainian general
publicly questioned whether such ambitious call-up plans were feasible. Meanwhile, the chief of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said mobilizing that many troops could take at least a year to achieve.
24 December 2023, 15:10 GMT
