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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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A prominent pro-Kremlin military blogger has criticized Russian commanders deployed in northeastern Ukraine for allegedly lying to Moscow's top officials, accusing the commanders of spurring on a spate of reported suicides of Russian troops in the area.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Russia's military has been advancing at various points along the hundreds of miles of front lines in Ukraine for more than year, but at a heavy cost to its personnel. Figures from Ukraine's armed forces and Western intelligence suggests that daily casualties for Moscow have topped 1,000 for many months.
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Russia has been gaining ground toward the Ukrainian hub of Kupiansk, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, and toward Borova, a settlement south of Kupiansk, while advancing in the direction of the Donetsk town of Lyman to the southeast of Borova.
Ukraine retook Lyman and Kupiansk from Russia in the months after Moscow's invasion swept through chunks of the country in early 2022. The Kremlin's forces sweeping back through these settlements would be a major blow to Kyiv.
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What To Know
Yuri Podolyaka, a popular pro-Russian military blogger, claimed at the end of January that Russian commanders deployed at the front lines from the Ukrainian-held town of Borova down to Lyman "lie to the country and to the president," referring to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The military blogger said Moscow's 20th Combined Arms Army had "prematurely" reported that its troops had captured the Ukrainian settlement of Novoyehorivka, a village in the eastern Luhansk region that sits southeast of Borova.
Moscow's Defense Ministry said in a public statement on January 20 that Russia had captured Novoyehorivka. Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, fighting around the settlement, disputed Russian claims that Novoyehorivka had been seized.
Another pro-Russia military blogger said late last month that Russian troops were trying to quickly seize the settlement they had already declared under Moscow's control.
"In fact, it has not been captured yet," despite claims from Russian state media, Podolyaka said. "What is happening there is real MADNESS," the blogger continued.
The blogger said wounded soldiers deployed on the outskirts of Novoyehorivka "shoot themselves, realizing that no one will take them and they will freeze anyway."
Podolyaka said that Russian soldiers "go, and they die, in groups," to shield higher-up commanders from reprisals from the top.
"What is happening there is MADNESS. AND IT MUST BE STOPPED," he wrote.
Russian forces have advanced northeast of the town of Lyman in the past few days, the Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War said on Monday. Both Moscow and Kyiv have recently gained territory around Borova, the ISW added.
What Are People Saying
Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement on January 20: "Units of the "West" group of forces, as a result of active combat operations, liberated the settlement of Novoyehorivka in the Luhansk People's Republic."
Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said in a statement on January 29: "We report that this statement and all the news about the capture of the village is another fake of Russian propaganda."
What Happens Next
Fighting will likely blaze on until U.S. President Donald Trump makes progress on his pledge to end Europe's largest land war since World War II.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "988" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org
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