RUSSIAN marines have slammed Vladimir Putin for leading them into a “massacre” in a bombshell leaked letter.
It emerged as mutinies erupted across Russia’s armed forces – with video footage showing 2,000 conscripts surrounding a general and angrily shouting: “Shame on you.”
Major-General Kirill Kulakov, 53, was seen being humiliated in a revolt by mobilized men at their training base in Kazan.
The commander was shouted down with chants of “Get out of here!”, “Shame on you”, and “Down with [Putin’s] regime!”
He was urged by the mob to “apologise” for the treatment of the men called up to fight in Ukraine.
They say they lack proper food and hot water in squalid barracks and have been given rusty guns from 50 years ago.
At one point the commander is heard saying: “I am answering your questions….”
But one furious draftee cries out: “F***ing general, you know where you’re sending us.”
Another shouts: “You’re sitting comfortably in a warm place.”
Reports say that Maj-Gen Kulikov was forced to call riot police to restore calm.
Putin has called up 300,000 men for his calamitous invasion of Ukraine, but conscripts are said to face going into battle without proper training or equipment.
Alarmingly for the president, hardened professional soldiers have also voiced their fury at the increasingly unpopular and costly war.
The leaked letter was sent by marines who claimed 300 of their number were killed in a four-day bloodbath in Pavlivka, in the Donetsk region.
They accused tyrant Putin of treating them like “meat” and blasted “incompetent” generals for using them as “cannon fodder”.
The commandos of the 155th Marine Brigade wrote to their regional governor Oleg Kozhemyako in Primorsky – in Russia’s Far East – in a bid to get their message to the Kremlin.
They have demanded Putin be told personally of the massacre and want an independent military commission set up to investigate.
The marines wrote: “Yet again we were thrown into an incomprehensible attack by Generals Muradov and Akhmedov, so that Muradov could get bonuses from (chief of the general staff Valery) Gerasimov, and his promised Hero of Russia (medal).
“So it was us and the Marines from Kamchatka advancing on Pavlivka.
“As a result of the ‘carefully planned’ attack by these ‘great commanders’ we lost about 300 people in four days, killed, wounded and missing.
“We lost 50 per cent of our military equipment, and this was just our brigade.”
The demoralised troops also claim commanders are “hiding” the mayhem in Donetsk and “playing down the number of losses for fear of being held responsible”.
Cannon fodder
Addressing the governor, they wrote: “How long will mediocrities like Muradov and Akhmedov plan military operations for the sake of their reports, and for receiving awards at the cost of so many lives?
“They don’t care about anything but themselves, they call people cannon fodder.”
The governor has sent the appeal to the “competent authorities”, while claiming it could be a fake, said a report.
However multiple Russian sources indicate the letter from the marines is genuine.
It was first highlighted – initially without the actual text – by Russian state TV war reporter Alexander Sladkov.
He warned “the blood is pouring and pouring” among Russian forces, with “great losses” of people and equipment.
After claims that the letter may have been the work of Ukrainian special forces, he hit back today denying his account had been hacked stating: “The goal is to save [Russian forces].
“Let them become heroes, not meat mixed with earth and boards.”
Reports also suggest heavy Ukrainian losses in intense fighting.
On Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defence said its “artillery fire and assault groups defeated militant units” in Pavlivka and other villages.
But there are claims that Russian troops fell into a trap occupying half of the village and then were picked off by the Ukrainian forces.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that in Pavlivka the Russian army had fired mortars, cannon and rocket artillery.
But its forces repelled the Russians, who abandoned a T-80BVM tank as they retreated.
Deadliest day
It comes as humiliated Putin continues to suffer major setbacks in Ukraine after arrogantly believing he could sweep in and take the country within days.
Ukraine last week claimed Russia had suffered its deadliest day yet on the frontline after almost 1,000 soldiers were killed in just 24 hours.
A new death toll in the war suggests Putin’s war has cost more than 100,000 Russian lives.
Telegram channel General SVR states that the Russian leader has been informed of 77,291 killed in his regular forces since he started the conflict in February.
In addition, some 23,517 have been killed in private military companies like Wagner which are involved in his war.
And some 5,308 Russian national guards have been killed, the channel said.
The Russian channel has regularly suggested the toll is higher than other sources.
If correct, it would mean an overall Russian toll of 106,116.
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