(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Winter begins to take its toll on Russia's army in Ukraine [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2022-11-26 Winter has begun in Ukraine and the cold is already taking its toll on the poorly equipped Russian Army. Soldiers dying out in the open or curled up in trenches with little protection is becoming a common sight. x Hypothermia. No blood or other causes of death to be seen. https://t.co/IotEaekAoh pic.twitter.com/7nlaMPcyHa — NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) November 25, 2022 It gets worse. The photo below shows a pile of dead Russians outside a building and attributes that to hypothermia. Of course, that can’t be confirmed, but it’s a good bet. Nonetheless, several commenters challenged that idea, arguing that you can’t get hypothermia from temps of 43 F, which isn’t true. It’s actually easier to get hypothermia than you’d think. Others suggest that Russians are able to withstand the cold because they’re tough. That’s just BS. The temps quoted below were during the day. Doesn’t say what the nighttime temps were. Still, if this isn’t the result of hypothermia, perhaps aggravated by other factors like alcohol, I’m not sure what else would explain this. x During my last appearance on the @MriyaReport I said that winter would kill more russian soldiers than Ukraine ever could. Today it was 6°C/43°F during the day on the Donetsk front & we got the first videos of entire russian squads dying of hypothermia. Winter is Ukraine's ally. pic.twitter.com/C0KQheWlES — Thomas C. Theiner (@noclador) November 24, 2022 The reasons why hypothermia is going to be a big cause of death are pretty obvious and there doesn’t seem to be any hope for Russian troops that anything will be done to improve their situation. The estimate below of 100k dead seems shocking and rather high, but it’s not inconceivable. Russia lost more than that to hypothermia during WWII and the war with Finland. Many things have improved since then. Maybe not. x russian troops to hide from the elements = death by hypothermia 4) ground is frozen = you can't dig shelters anymore = russian troops have to sleep on the ground = death by hypothermia 5) russian troops can't make any fire. Fire = smoke, which attracts drones and artillery 2/4 — Thomas C. Theiner (@noclador) November 25, 2022 The effects of the weather can help to explain a phenomenon that seems unreal on the numerous videos that have been posted of drones dropping grenades on Russian troops in trenches or just lying on the ground. In many of these videos the soldiers appear to have very little reaction to a grenade exploded right next to them. How can that be possible? I’ve wondered that myself. And I’m not the only one. x Videos where a shell detonates in a group of like 8 guys, and one kinda rolls over and the others just kinda lay there or crawl a bit and curl into a ball. It is like they are so mentally broken they just give up. I wonder if they are even consciously aware. — Andrew Perpetua (@AndrewPerpetua) November 24, 2022 This thread offers one explanation: x It shows a Ukrainian drone dropping a small grenade on a group of 11 Russian soldiers huddled sleeping in a (weakly) defensive dug-out pit, on the front line east of Bakhmut. What's amazing to watch is how sluggishly - if at all - the men react. — Tom Warner (@warnerta) November 25, 2022 x These men are suffering from moderate to severe hypothermia, when the body stops shivering and the mind goes into a stupor or even shuts down. They were probably laying huddled all night without proper clothing or bags. Night temperatures have been in the mid-high 30s F / 0-4 C pic.twitter.com/emJvcdSqdP — Tom Warner (@warnerta) November 25, 2022 But it’s not just the cold. It’s “hopeless men in a hopeless situation.” Contributing factors, of course, are likely alcohol and a generally lack of enough food. x They have presumably been ordered to hold their position, and threatened with punishment or even execution if they fail. Yet they haven't been given the goods or training to stay warm. — Tom Warner (@warnerta) November 25, 2022 x Today's Russian soldiers die like blind worms in a pit out of their commanders' sheer incompetence and their own failure to take responsibility for their own fates, achieving absolutely nothing. And it's going to get a lot colder. — Tom Warner (@warnerta) November 25, 2022 And then there is this video (warning — it’s gripping) of a Wagner commander who has been wounded deciding to shoot himself apparently to avoid capture. He struggles with the rifle and it doesn’t show him actually pulling the trigger but you see him later lying motionless with no reaction when the grenades explode next to him. Why he doesn’t shoot the drone is a mystery to me but maybe he’s just out of it from cold, pain, etc. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/26/2138419/-Winter-begins-to-take-its-toll-on-Russia-s-army-in-Ukraine Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/