Russia achieved a creeping advance in Ukraine by forcing ill-trained soldiers into frontal attacks on defended positions. Arkady Budnitsky/Anadolu via Getty ImagesExpendable troops are essential to Russia's costly advance in Ukraine.Criminals allow Russia to expand its army without resorting to a larger mobilization.... read full story
"Wagner — and the battle for Bakhmut, to some extent — became a test bed for Russian forces to determine how best to exploit convicts as an expendable force,"