As Ukrainian Forces Close In, A Regiment Of Russian Draftees Begs For Help

Three weeks after the Kremlin announced a nationwide mobilization meant to make good Russia’s steep losses in Ukraine, significant numbers of draftees are beginning to arrive at the front. It should surprise no one that these troops are under-trained, under-equipped and ambivalently led.

Consider the 127th Rifle Regiment. This formation, apparently mixing hundreds of Ukrainian separatists and Russian draftees, recently arrived in southern Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast—and already is in trouble. “The situation is critical in the 127th Rifle Regiment,” the Ukrainian general staff said.

“There are long interruptions with water and food in the sub-units,” the staff noted. “Military personnel, at best, are equipped with old-fashioned protective equipment, which leads to numerous casualties.”

The 127th Rifle Regiment for months has been a symbol of Russian dysfunction. The Kremlin stood up the unit in the spring, as Russia’s casualties in Ukraine possibly exceeded 50,000 dead and wounded. Technically, the regiment belongs to the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine. But DPR regiments fight for the Russians under the banner of the Russian 1st Army Corps.

The separatist conscripts who initially made up the 127th Rifle Regiment were an unhappy bunch. Back in June, one of the regiment’s battalions posted on social media a video in which its members complained of their treatment and begged to go home.

They didn’t go home. Instead, the 127th Rifle Regiment absorbed Russian draftees and found itself on the front line in Kherson Oblast, where a trio of eager Ukrainian brigades launched an aggressive counteroffensive starting Aug. 30.

The separatist regiments were no match for the Ukrainians. The 109th Rifle Regiment, a sister unit of the 127th, surrendered on the first day of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, according to the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C.

The 127th Rifle Regiment apparently hasn’t yet surrendered. But merely not quitting might be its greatest contribution to Russia’s campaign plan in the south. The regiment once again reportedly is begging its own chain of command for mercy, by way of the usual proxies: its troopers’ families.

“Relatives of mobilized servicemen prepared an appeal to the law-enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation about significant losses and the inaction of the military command,” the Ukrainian general staff said.

The regiment’s unhappiness could be indicative of equally low morale across much of the Russian military as the war in Ukraine grinds into its eighth month and Russian losses inch toward 100,000 dead and wounded.

Low morale is a harbinger of defeat. Mick Ryan, a retired Australian army general, noted “the courage of Ukrainians in close combat and the lack of purpose among Russian soldiers.” When an eager army meets a reluctant one, the eager one almost always wins.