Report: Russian unit awaits speech of commander shocked by HIMARS

• Russian pro-war bloggers are outraged by a report that a unit was made to wait hours for a commander’s speech.
• The Russian troupe came under fire from Ukraine’s HIMARS as they gathered, bloggers say.
• While the unit was reported to have suffered heavy casualties, the exact casualties were not disclosed.

Russian military bloggers said a Russian unit suffered heavy losses to Ukrainian artillery while waiting in formation for a commander to give a motivational speech.

The allegation sparked a flurry of angry posts on Wednesday from pro-war bloggers, who criticized the unnamed commander, The Moscow Times first reported it.

According to the Military blogger RebarThe incident took place in Kremina, Luhansk, just before a Russian division launched an attack.

“People stood for two hours in a crowd in one place and waited for the division commander to give his motivational speech,” Ribar wrote.

But instead of hearing the words of their commander, the division came under heavy fire from Ukrainian HIMARS and artillery, the blogger wrote.

Insider was unable to independently verify the number of Russians killed or wounded in this attack. But Ribar claimed that the death toll on this occasion exceeds the number of those killed during the days of heavy fighting in the area.

“You can’t stand in a column for two hours in one place!” wrote another blogger by the name of Two Majors. “What are you doing, father-leaders, officials!”

The blogger continued, “We are at war with our own stupidity and silliness, wrapped in fictional reports from above.”

Another Russian military blogger known by a pseudonym, older than Ida, had harsh words for the unidentified commander.

“If, by the middle of the second year of the war, there are commanders who bring columns to the front and gather the personnel into one great heap, awaiting the bombardment of the enemy artillery, these commanders must be shot before formation, even if they are colonels or generals.” blogger wrote.

Radio Free Europe reported on Wednesday that some are influential Pro-war bloggers began blaming Major General Sohrab Akmedovalthough they did not present any evidence to prove that he was responsible for this wartime misstep.

Akhmetov previously commanded the 155th Brigade of the Russian Marines of the Pacific Fleet. The brigade suffered heavy losses in Donetsk led by Akhmetov, including the loss of about 300 men in a matter of days, According to an open letter the general wrote to the government.

The claim comes as Russian military bloggers grow increasingly frustrated with the Kremlin’s military blunders in Ukraine, amid persistent reports documenting failures or surveillance operations that have led to the deaths of hundreds of Russian soldiers.

Representatives for the Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside normal business hours.