By David Patrikarakos, war corresponded for UnHerd, an online magazine based in the UK.
The following are Twitter excerpts between David Patrikarakos and DIMA, a Ukrainian military commander.
“All violence is, in the end, a failure of words. Russia has run out of words and so it can only attack Ukraine.”
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“Our greatest ally in this war is #Russia corruption & the nature of its army. The soldier in the field briefs his officer: ‘it’s not good but we’re holding’; next guy reports up: ‘we’re holding’; the next guy: ‘it’s going well! This is why Putin doesn’t know how bad things are.”
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“It’s like WWII but with modern technology. 2014 (when the Russians took Crimea] was a playground compared to this.”
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| DP arrived in Dnipro to begin covering the battle for UnHerd.com in eastern #Ukraine. Dima has been fighting since early March. |
“I didn’t believe the war would happen bc an invasion needs at least 2-1 numerical superiority. I looked on the borders at the army there & it was clear they didn’t have it. This is crazy. Sometimes you play poker with a bad hand. #Russia is playing without any cards at all.”
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“What has shocked me is the callousness of #Russia soldiers to their own men.” [He shows DP a photo taken from a drone of soldiers eating lunch in a ruined house near several bodies lying in the dirt.] “They’re eating 20 meters from the decomposing bodies of their comrades.”
"They just drop the bodies of their friends into trenches. Sometimes they don’t even bother to cover them We found a grave of 15 bodies a while back. They’d thrown bit of dirt on them but that was it. They don't even respect to the lives of their own comrades. Incredible."
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“Their tactics are insane. Chernobaivka has a small military airport. 17 times they've tried to take it. 17 times we've smashed them. Still they come. Our soldiers ask: "Are they dumb?" No, just incapable of independent thought. They just follow orders – no matter how crazy."
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"Chechen soldiers? Ha! We call them TikTok soldiers. They're always filming. We found one who was wounded and trying not to fight but instead take a selfie."
"Their job is not to fight but to shoot Russian boy conscripts who don't want to fight. It's Soviet tactics.
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"I want to say one thing: @elonmusk's Starlink is what changed the war in #Ukraine's favour. #Russia went out of its way to blow up all our comms. Now they can't. Starlink works under Katyusha fire, under artillery fire. It even works in Mariupol."
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| NLAW anti-tank weapon |
"The NLAWs are the best: easy to use, lock, load and move; without them we wouldn’t be taking out so many Russian tanks. On the subject of tanks: We’ve captured more than 100 enemy tanks. We have a joke in the #ukraine army: our biggest weapons supplier is Russia."
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“They use Soviet military tactics, which were out of date 30 years ago. But we study Afghanistan, & Israel. Things have changed! #Russia tries to press with Mass. Our strategy is simple: to destroy as much as possible.”
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"I know you British have a complicated relationship with your prime minister but here @BorisJohnson has become something of a national hero. We knew from the beginning that Britain was a very ancient and important nation – and it is a country that stands by its word."
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David Patrikarakos is a Contributing Editor at UnHerd. His latest book is "War in 140 characters: how social media is reshaping conflict in the 21st century."(Hachette) @dpatrikarakos
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