First, I have to tell you that I don’t know when or where this video was shot.  I would say that it is very recent and that it was show somewhere outside the combat zone.  It seems to show a Ukie column stopped on the side of a highway which is being approached by civilians offering the exhausted soldiers some water and beginning a conversation.  The rest is self-explanatory (make sure to activate the “cc” option to see the English subtitles).

You will notice that at one point the conversation centers around three, possibly four, destroyed brigades which might be interpreted as 10’000 dead Ukies.  The brigades are the 72nd, 79th, 24th and 25th.  When the civilian asks again how many people were killed, the soldiers answer “go figure!”.

Now, that kind of roadside “interview” does not prove anything, much less so that 10’000 Ukies died or that 4 Ukie brigades were wiped out.  But it does show that this is what these Ukies soldiers believe, that the “military rumor mill” on the Ukie side is all about doom and gloom and not about how “we are just about to liberate Donetsk and Lugansk from the terrorists”.  Notice also the utter contempt for their commanders and the reference to a completely broken chain of command.

I will also say that reports of that kind are shown every day on Russian TV and on the Russian blogosphere and Internet.  I wish somebody had the time to parse YouTube and make a long video of all the many short video reports showing masses of burned down Ukie armor and desperate, disgusted and depressed Ukie soliders (btw – 17 more crossed into Russia today).

On the Resistance side ALL I saw is videos of bombed buildings, killed civilians, and massive artillery strikes from the Ukie positions.  I have yet to see a single video showing a destroyed Resistance unit.  Mind you – this is war and I am sure that this also did happen, but I did not see it (yet).

Anyway, here is the video (thanks to Larchmonter445 for drawing my attention to it).  See and decide for yourself.

Kind regards,

The Saker

PS: one more small detail: the language of the subtitles is *less* rude than the one actually used in this video which is densely saturated with profanities (yet another sign of a demoralized unit).