Russia is gunning down any troops that plan on deserting the war or surrendering to Ukrainian forces "to maintain military discipline and prevent the spread of panic among personnel."
Ukraine's General Staff reported on Sunday (January 8) that the Rosgvardia force, or National Guard, is being used to shoot dead any troops with ideas of not supporting Vladimir Putin's "special military operation".
The Rosgvardia is a special police unit – separate from the army – which is trained in counter-insurgency missions and operates just behind advancing troops.
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The report from Ukraine 's General Staff said Rosgvardia troops gunned down six servicemen that intended to desert the war in Ukraine.
UK intelligence said late last year that Rosgvardia troops were used as "barrier soldiers" to act as a block to any Russian troops trying to escape the battlefield.
According to Ukrainian officials Putin's army has lost more than 111,000 troops since the war began, on February 24, 2022.
"They are afraid. You can feel it. And they are right to be afraid. Because they are losing. Drones, missiles, anything else will not help them. Because we are together. And they are together only with fear," Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The mayor of Melitopol, a city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine, said last month that Rosgvardia troops were brought to Ukrainian south to oversee conscripts.
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Ivan Serhiyovych Fedorov said that they had occupied checkpoints from Melitopol to Vasylivka.
The troops are sometimes nicknames Kadyrovites due to their loyalty to Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov.
They are also dubbed ‘TikTok warriors’, because of an apparent addiction to posing on the social media site, often pretending to be in combat.
"But if earlier these ‘TikTok warriors’ mainly looted businesses and intimidated the local population, now they have another important task: to control the mobilized (soldiers), who are completely maladaptive, unpredictable and may run away at any moment," Fedorov said.
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