Russian Milbloggers Blame ‘Incompetence’ for Ukrainian HIMARS Strike That Destroyed Russian Battalion

Video posted on several pro-Kremlin Telegram channels overnight on Aug. 8/9 showed a column of Russian military vehicles fiercely burning at the side of the road near the village of Oktyabrskoye in the Rylsky district of the Kursk region.

One of the milbloggers, “Military informant” suggested that Ukrainian forces had struck more than a dozen troop-carrying and logistic vehicles using M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) rockets.

Although there has been no confirmation that the weapon system was used the blogger posted an image that seemed to show debris from an M101 submunition container from the HIMARS M30 rocket.

Geolocated images and video that were posted on Telegram early on Friday morning showed the burnt-out wreckage of at least 14 vehicles and bodies lying at the side of the road on the approach to the village of Oktyabrskoye as shocked and dazed soldiers stand helplessly by.

Estimates made by some analysts suggest that as many as 500 Russian troops were killed or injured during the attack. This would make it one of the largest single losses for the Russian army since the start of a full-scale war.

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Pro-Russian Z-bloggers were outraged by the incident some criticizing Russia’s senior commanders in general and calling for whoever authorized the movement of a column in a war zone to be punished – “We need executions,” military analyst Roman Alekhine wrote.

Some said the movement of an unprotected convoy of more than 10 trucks with military personnel in the Kursk region was little more than a war crime. The “Two Majors” blogger wrote, “Whoever gave the order to move in columns in the area… should be sentenced under the laws of war.”

“Older than Eddy” said, “...it is forbidden to move in columns in a combat zone… Just take the column leader, beat him like a dog, kick him until he starts vomiting and sh***ing under himself.”

Yuri Podolyaka, whose Telegram channel has almost 3 million subscribers, wrote “How much longer? The war is in its third year, and some people still insist on moving in columns in the frontline zone.”

The channel “Thirteenth,” which has links with the Wagner PMC, said those responsible were “brainless creatures.”

“In the third year of the war, even a monkey could be trained, but not some [Russian] Ministry of Defense staff general who gave the orders for such a suicidal march in the frontline zone.”

The location of the strike is almost 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Ukrainian border and 20 kilometers (13 miles) away from the site of the current fighting, which according to reports on several Russian military blogs, is taking place near the village of Korenevo.

Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s Chief of the General Staff since 2012 had previously assured Putin during a televised meeting on Thursday Aug. 8 that Russian forces had halted the Ukrainian advance in the Kursk region despite all the evidence to the contrary.