Russian Troops Sabotage Own Equipment, Refuse Orders: Report

Russian troops have reportedly shot down their own aircraft, sabotaged their own equipment and refused to carry out orders, according to a top British intelligence official.

Sir Jeremy Fleming, the Director of GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency, is expected to announce the details in a speech on Thursday.

“Demoralized Russian soldiers in Ukraine have accidentally shot down their own aircraft, sabotaged their own kit and refused to carry out orders,” Sky News reporter Deborah Haynes announced on Twitter. “The @GCHQ director will also say Wagner, the Russian private military company, is understood to be prepared to ‘send large numbers of personnel into Ukraine to fight alongside Russians.’ They will likely be used as ‘cannon fodder’ to try to limit Russian military losses.”

BREAKING: Demoralised Russian soldiers in Ukraine have accidentally shot down their own aircraft, sabotaged their own kit and refused to carry out orders, Sir Jeremy Fleming, director of the UK spy agency @GCHQ, will reveal in a speech in Australia on Thursday. 1/

— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) March 30, 2022

“Sir Jeremy is also set to say the risks are greater for China than Russia of the two authoritarian states being too closely aligned with each other. And he will reveal indications that Russian cyber attackers are ‘looking for targets’ in countries opposed to Russia’s war in [Ukraine],” she continued. “The @GCHQ director will say Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth about what is unfolding in Ukraine, according to an advance copy of the speech, which is taking place at the Australian National University in Canberra.”

“But ‘what’s going on & the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.’ Missteps = misjudging [Ukrainian] resistance; underestimating strength of western response; underplaying economic consequences; over-estimating abilities of [Russia’s] military to secure quick win,” she continued. “Revealing details about the state of the Russian military operation, Sir Jeremy is expected to say: ‘We’ve seen Russian soldiers – short of weapons and morale – refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.’”

The news comes days after Haynes reported that a Russian brigade commander was “deliberately” killed by his own troops after his unit suffered staggering losses during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“A Russian brigade commander has been killed deliberately by his own troops after his unit suffered many losses in Ukraine,” Haynes reported. “Colonel Medvechek, commander of 37 Motor Rifle Brigade, was run over by his soldiers.”

A Western official told Haynes, “The brigade commander of one of the units was killed by his own troops and killed by his own troops, we believe, as a consequence of the scale of loss that had been taken by his brigade.”

“That just gives an insight into perhaps some of the morale challenges that Russian forces are having,” the official added. “We believe he was killed by his own troops deliberately. Indeed we believe he was run over by his own troops and I believe he was the commander of the 37 Motor Rifle Brigade.”