Ukraine: The fragging has begun

The following comes from the French version of Vanity Fair. I thought I'd offer a translation. It may put a grim smile on your face.

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Ukraine: A rebellious Russian tank driver crushes his commander

"Even in Chechnya, we never saw that." In a recording published on March 22 on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian secret services, we hear two Russian soldiers -- whose conversation was intercepted -- lay bare the madness of the Russian invasion. 

The publication of the recording reveals a climate of debacle that pushed a Russian soldier to run over his commander with his tank. The tank driver "wanted Colonel Yury Medvedev for the death of his friends," wrote the Ukrainian journalist Roman Tsimbalyuk on Facebook. 

According to him, the incident occurred after two groups of Russian soldiers lost half of their workforce in Makarov, in the Kyiv region. "After waiting for the right moment, during the fight, he ran over the commander with his tank, injuring his legs" continues Tsimbalyuk. Colonel Medvedev is at the hospital in Belarus, pending financial compensation for injuries suffered during "the special military operation to protect the Donbass."

It's difficult to verify this version of events but a video published this month on VK by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov confirms that Medvedev was transported to the hospital. The leader posted the video to show the responsiveness of the emergency services on the battlefield. "These moments of struggle bring us together."

On March 22, NATO estimated that between 7000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers died in four weeks, compared with 15,000 in ten years in Afghanistan. "It's so messy here, one of our own planes bombed us," continues one of the soldiers in the intercepted conversation. "Basically, this whole thing's a charade. That's how I'd put it. "

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Cannon here. Christo Grozev of Bellingcat tweeted a link to this story. A Russian-language response said that this story has "zero evidence" to support it. A response to the response says that there is video of the wounded colonel. 

While I wish we had a better source, I tend to think that the story is true, in part because I want it to be true, but also because there is historical precedent. During the Vietnam war, fragging was more common than most Americans wanted to believe. It seems likely that some of these Russian conscripts feel the same sense of betrayal and cosmic disgust.