Wounded Russian soldiers are being used as “bait” for Ukrainian fire unless they pay a month’s salary

Imagine this:

You’re a soldier fighting an offensive war in a foreign country. Maybe you haven’t even enlisted voluntarily. You have seen your fellow soldiers get shot or blown to bits, either by the enemy or by your own commanders.

And then the inevitable happens: You are hit by an artillery shell or an exploding drone. The other soldiers in your squad die instantly, but you somehow manage to survive.

With only one functioning leg, you crawl and limp your way back to your command station, and you are taken to the infirmary. You’re safe.

Now imagine being told you will be sent back to the front line to draw enemy fire, even though you only have one leg left—unless you pay a month’s salary.

It sounds insane and like something from a post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror movie, but this is how it works in the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.

Pay with money or your life

In a special report from PBS, Seth Jones from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) explains that wounded Russian soldiers are indeed being used as bait to draw fire from Ukrainian forces.

The rationale is that when Ukrainian defenders attack, the Russians use the fire to determine where the Ukrainian positions are located.

But according to the report from PBS, wounded Russian soldiers can avoid being used as bait if they “just” pay thousands of dollars to be declared unfit for active duty.

The issue is that, according to BBC Monitoring, the average monthly salary for a Russian soldier is roughly $2,500.

$40,000 or the front

In a report from mid-February, The Telegraph reported that the mere fear of being sent to the front line is being used by Russian commanders to line their own pockets.

According to the report, Russian soldiers are being forced to pay upwards of $40,000 to their commander, or the commander will send the soldier to the front line.

Yes, it makes sense to have soldiers at the front line in a war, but the Russian military is infamous for not caring about the lives of its soldiers.

In late January, CSIS released a report estimating Russian casualties to be nearly 1.2 million at the time.

And that number is likely closer to 1.3 million now, as Russia suffered more casualties in March than in any other month during the war.

Sources: PBS, The Telegraph, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine

This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation