An “extremely high” number of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine are believed to be dying due to alcohol abuse, the Defense Ministry reported.
In its latest defense intelligence report on Russia’s war in Ukraine, posted on its Twitter account, the department said “widespread alcohol abuse” among Russian troops is allegedly leading to many deaths, along with other “extraneous” causes. to combat”, such as hypothermia.
In their intelligence update, released on Sunday, they reported: “While Russia has suffered up to 200,000 casualties since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a significant minority of these have been due to non-combat causes.
“On March 27, 2023, a Russian Telegram news channel reported that there have been an ‘extremely high’ number of alcohol-related incidents, crimes and deaths among deployed Russian forces,” they added.
“Other leading causes of non-combat casualties likely include poor weapons drills, traffic accidents, and weather injuries such as hypothermia,” they mentioned in the report.
“Russian commanders are likely to identify widespread alcohol abuse as particularly detrimental to combat effectiveness,” he adds.
“However, with binge drinking pervasive in much of Russian society, it has long been seen as a tacitly accepted part of military life, even in combat operations,” he concludes.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has been “on” for over a year, since February 24, 2022.
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