Balaklia, Ukraine:

When Russian troops withdrew from the town of Balaklia in eastern Ukraine in late 2022, pursued and under fire by Ukrainian troops, they were left with a group of poorly equipped volunteers to guard the retreat.

The approximately 50-man force is from the National Army Combat Reserve (BARS by its Russian abbreviation), a loose group of thousands of fighters deployed by the Russian Defense Ministry in Ukraine to supplement its regular forces.

About four hours of video from a body camera worn by one of the fighters, obtained by Reuters, provides a rare first-hand view of BARS unit combat operations. Three military experts reviewed the video and evaluated it. News agency of the unit’s military capabilities.

The invasion of Ukraine marked the first time BARS, established in 2015, deployed troops into combat. The video, plus interviews with four platoon members, shows BARS troops left to defend Baraklia without heavy weapons or air support, communications failures and chaotic coordination with regular troops.

“Where is our air force?” asked a BARS soldier. His squad, tasked with guarding a crossroads north of the town, were sharing a can of cold stew during a lull in Ukrainian shelling.

The conversation was recorded on the body camera of squad leader Anton Kuznetsov, who told the soldiers there must be a good reason for not having air support. “Do they know we’re surrounded?” another soldier off camera complained.

When contacted by Reuters, Kuznetsov said he took the body camera video and then lost the camera’s memory card, but declined to comment on combat operations. After retreating, the memory card was left in the backpack.

The Russian Defense Ministry and the Kremlin did not respond to requests for comment about the video or the extent to which the military relied on the BARS breach. Contacted by Reuters, a deputy commander of the BARS 9 unit operating in Baraklia confirmed his position in the unit but declined to comment on its activities.

The news agency was unable to independently determine to what extent what happened in the video was representative of the actions of the wider BARS force.

Russia has made territorial gains in parts of the frontline in recent months. Ukraine changed its military leadership in early February and has repeatedly said it needs more equipment and support from Western allies to wage war.

President Vladimir Putin has publicly praised BARS for its contribution to the Russian campaign on at least two occasions. In his annual address to Parliament on February 21, 2023, he stated that BARS soldiers were patriotic volunteers and thanked them for their service.

Military experts say BARS is part of a patchwork of irregular forces that could help Russia avoid unwelcome conscription as the war enters its third year.

Rod Thornton, an associate professor in the defense studies department at King’s College London, estimates that there are about 200,000 Russian troops fighting in or near Ukraine, with BARS contributing between 10,000 and 30,000. Russia did not disclose the number of BARS fighter jets.

The latest news posted on social media by Dmitry Rogozin, a Moscow-appointed deputy to the upper house of Zaporozhye Oblast, shows that BARS troops have been fighting in northeastern Ukraine and southern Zaporozhye Oblast in recent months. These two areas are the most fiercely contested front lines. report by the Russian parliament and reported by Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.

Nick Reynolds, a land operations researcher at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British defense think tank, said the BARS force could help fill Russia’s manpower gap.

“With the Russian government clearly mobilizing for a protracted conflict, a system like BARS does provide an additional avenue to mobilize parts of the population, get them trained, and provide additional force,” Reynolds said, reviewing body camera footage Said later.

He said the group in the video looked “not particularly professional or well-trained.”

‘We have been forgotten’

On September 6, 2022, the main Russian force in Balaklia was retreating in the face of a large-scale Ukrainian counteroffensive. Ukrainian troops have captured the nearby settlements of Verbivka and Lagoli. But the BARS fighters stayed.

The video showed Kuznetsov, 29, from Siberia, one of the squad leaders of BARS 9 Platoon, commanding about a dozen people.

The video shows the commander of the BARS platoon in Balaklya ordering Kuznetsov’s squad to move to the intersection and fight off Ukrainian troops.

Conversations captured on camera showed they knew their firepower would be outmatched by the Ukrainians. The heaviest weapons owned by Kuznetsov’s squad are machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

Two members of the BARS unit were sent to find locations with radio signals so they could contact nearby artillery units for support, according to one of the four fighters who spoke on condition of anonymity.

About 24 hours later, they located an artillery unit, but they had retreated toward Russia and could do nothing, the person said.

“My first impression is that we have been forgotten,” he said. “This has a huge psychological impact on me.”

toy soldiers

On September 7, the last day of body camera recording, Kuznetsov’s team was conducting surveillance in an apartment building overlooking an intersection when radio traffic reported that Ukrainian troops were approaching.

While waiting, Kuznetsov and two of his men played with toy airplanes and a toy tank, imitating a soldier calling for air support.

Soon after, radio reports said five Ukrainian Humvees had been spotted nearby. “Okay, guys, let’s get into combat mode,” Kuznetsov told his squad. The video clip ended as Kuznetsov walked downstairs to the street.

Two of the militants told Reuters they did engage Ukrainian forces but that Russian forces were outnumbered.

After the retreat, BARS 9 temporarily disbanded, according to the two fighters, but they said it has since reactivated.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)