A Russian soldier ran over his commander with a tank in protest of the huge number of casualties his unit had suffered in Ukraine, a Ukrainian journalist claimed. The report follows documentation that allegedly shows a Russian colonel, Yuri Medvedev, being evacuated to a hospital after suffering serious injuries to his legs.
Roman Zimblyuk, a Ukrainian journalist who lived in Russia but escaped from it last January, said that Russian officer Yuri Medvedev was run over by one of his soldiers who was furious at the heavy losses suffered by the unit. This was reported by the Daily Mail.
Zimblyuk wrote in a Facebook post that his tank battalion lost 1,500 soldiers, about half of its force, some dead and some wounded. “A soldier, who chose a suitable moment during the battle, ran over his brigade commander, Colonel Yuri Medvedev, with a tank, and wounded both of his legs,” Zimbaliuk wrote in his post. “Medvedev is in a hospital in Belarus and has already been awarded a medal of courage.” he wrote.
The Daily Mail notes that there was no official confirmation of the claim, but a video released by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov – a close ally of Vladimir Putin – allegedly showed Medvedev being transferred by medical forces to Belarus for hospital treatment.
One Chechen fighter – who is fighting with the Russian National Guard under Putin’s direct control – told him in the video, wait, how are you okay? Talk to us, “Medvedev replied:” I’m fine. Where are you from? “, The Daily Mail reported.
Journalist Zimbaliuk did not report what happened to the soldier who drove the tank, but the report connects to reports that there is low morale among Putin forces that advanced towards Ukraine but were stopped 25 kilometers before the capital Kyiv, and suffered many casualties.
NATO estimates yesterday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops were killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, for comparison, Moscow lost about 15,000 troops in Afghanistan over 10 years.