The White House said it had information that Russia was executing its own soldiers who retreated from an offensive in Ukraine or refused to follow orders.
“We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told a media briefing on Thursday.
“It’s reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn’t want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units, it’s barbaric,” Mr Kirby said.
He said it was a “symptom of how poorly Russia’s military leaders know they’re doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective”.
The US also claimed that some of the Russian casualties near Avdivvka were “on the orders of their own leaders”.
The White House has downgraded and released intelligence findings about Russian action over the course of the war. Mr Kirby, however, did not provide any details on how many Russian troops have been executed for failing to follow orders or any specific examples of units threatened with execution for retreating from Ukrainian fire.
Ukrainian forces have been fighting a Russian military onslaught in the frontline town of Avdiivka – a few kilometres north of occupied Donetsk – for several weeks since mid-October.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation as “particularly tough” earlier this week.
Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, made no reference to the White House statement but said that the latest military aid package of $150m to Ukraine by the US was “provocative and inflammatory actions in the international arena that look more like pouring oil on the fire”.
He wrote on Telegram: “It is long past time to halt the mindless multi-billion dollar flow to the bankrupt Kyiv regime. Time to stop showing total disdain towards the opinions of your own citizens and indifference to the growing number of victims dying from American weaponry.”
Mr Kirby confirmed that since 11 October Russia lost “at least 125 units of armoured vehicles around Avdiivka and more than a battalion’s worth of military equipment”. White House also said that the Russian troops in Avdivvka are struggling with “low morale”.
Mr Kirby warned that Russia will likely continue to attack around Avdiivka and “may be able to achieve some tactical gains” in the coming months. However, he added that this will come at the cost of “thousands of casualties” as the Russian soldiers are thrown into battle without proper training and with “poor morale”.
Mr Kirby said threats to execute the soldiers were barbaric, according to Reuters.
“I think it’s a symptom of ... how poorly Russia’s military leaders know they’re doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective.”
Additional reporting with agencies
