Why Is Russia Sending Assault Troopers On Crutches?

A Russian assault trooper throws his crutch at an FPV drone

Ukraine MoD

It is no secret that Russia ‘recycles’ wounded soldiers, sending them back to the front line as soon as they are mobile. Commanders have made sure that getting wounded is not a ticket out of danger. But now we are seeing more extreme cases, with soldiers still on crutches or even in wheelchairs being pushed forward in assaults.

What is behind this bizarre phenomenon? There may be method behind this gruesome madness, but there are competing explanations.

‘Good Tsar, Bad Boyars’

It would be easy to dismiss this sort of claim as Ukrainian propaganda. Except that apart from the many cases captured on drone video, there are also many appeals on Russian social medias as the soldiers themselves plead for intervention by senior commanders, with troops on crutches complaining that they are expected to go into combat while completely unfit for action.

In one video, a direct appeal to Putin posted by a group of about 50 men from the 26th Tank Regiment of the 47th Guards Tank Division, the soldiers say that they are being sent into combat without the standard 45-day medical leave. Some are still in casts or on crutches.

This is a continuation of the ancient Russian tradition in which the Russians peasants believed they were ruled by a ‘Good Tsar, bad Boyars.’ The beloved ruler was supposed to care about the wellbeing of his people, but the noblemen beneath him were greedy and indifferent. This allowed people to keep believing in a fundamentally benevolent government despite their experiences. In the early 20th century, peasants wrote to the Tsar in increasing numbers as the pressure for change grew, believing if the Tsar only knew he would end their suffering.

Is the problem with the ‘Boyars’ – the local commanders – or the ‘Tsar’ – Putin and the system?

Filling Boxes

“My guess is that they’re working on the basis of quotas,” says ChrisO_wiki , a military history author and researcher and who has compiled a whole thread of videos showing Russian soldiers on crutches.

He suspects the crutch-borne assaults are due to Russia’s obsessive bureaucracy which insists everything must be done according to the rules.

“Each unit must have this many men, so if they can’t get enough new blood they make up the numbers from the wounded,” Chris_O told me. “The Russian army is very bureaucratic and loves its box-ticking exercises.”

He also notes that some Russian bloggers have complained about false reporting by military commanders , including lying about the number of effective troops they have and the casualties they have suffered. Recycling soldiers back into combat operations allows them to minimize their losses and pretend that a unit is at full strength. When soldiers are killed, it does not matter if they were previously incapacitated.

So even is a soldier is in a wheelchair he might be sent into combat if he is technically able to hold a weapon. The huge casualties taken in Russia’s ‘meat assaults’ mean that such deaths will easily disappear into the statistics.

Meat Probes, Or Money Savings?

Chris_O notes that soldiers on crutches may have very limited combat capability at best, but from the Russian point of view, they might perform a useful function as ‘meat probes.’

According to Andriy Kovalenko, Head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation speaking to RBC-Ukraine, troops on crutches are be sent forward to attract fire and reveal the firing positions of Ukrainian forces.

Soldiers on crutches are easy targets for FPV drones. In one blackly comic incident a Russian threw his crutch at an FPV in a futile attempt to stop it. By acting as drone magnets, the disabled soldiers draw fire away from their healthy comrades allowing them to carry out their mission.

Some of the Russian soldiers take an even darker view. They do not see this as a matter of everyone who can hold a weapon being able to make some sort of contribution. For them, it is a cynical question of money and reducing the compensation payments.

According to a new decree signed by Putin last November, soldiers with severe injuries will receive 3 million rubles (about $30,000), while those with minor injuries will receive 1 million rubles ($10,000) and the least serious are paid 100,000 rubles ($1,000). This is a downgrading from a 2022 ruling that all soldiers wounded in Ukraine would get the full 3 million, which is over twice the average annual salary in Russia.

However, if a wounded soldier is killed in an assault, the authorities may not pay any compensation at all. In theory the family are entitled to 5 million rubles – and bizarrely enough, Russian officials even give gifts of meat grinders to the mothers of troops killed in action as grisly recognition of their sacrifice — but payment is often withheld.

“If the person is missing, the family doesn’t get paid money. For the proof, a body is needed, and if there’s no body, that’s it, sorry, goodbye,” a Russian deserter told CNN.

The Russian army often fails to retrieve its dead. In Kharkiv alone the Ukrainians have recovered the bodies of hundreds of Russian soldiers, and the Russians have reportedly refused to negotiate for the recovery of such bodies. Families are often told their sons are listed as missing even when they have had details of how a soldier died. This approach ensures that both casualty statistics and compensation payouts are kept to a minimum.

The Long Run

From a Western perspective, sending soldiers on crutches into an assault where they will face almost certain death may not make sense. But for a state which places no value on human lives, things look different. A seriously wounded soldier who is due compensation is a liability. If they are going to die anyway, then it is better they die before they can claim injury compensation.

Russian bloggers and others may complain about the treatment their troops are getting, but they have little influence. So far, the scale of losses is being kept hidden, and the Russian people still believe in their modern Tsar. How long this can continue in an age of drone videos and social media is another matter, but for many the sight of assault troopers on crutches being cynically sent to die may be what finally convinces them that Russia is not winning this war.