On the front lines
For Russia, the Storm-Z troops are “just meat”
October 4, 2023, 4:11 a.m
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Drunk, disobedient, condemned. In the Ukraine war, Russia uses Storm-Z troops, a mix of criminals and punished soldiers. The units go to the front line – for the Kremlin they are expendable infantry.
According to one report, there are punitive units within the Russian army called Storm-Z. They consist of around 100 to 150 men, writes the Reuters news agency, citing 13 people, including Storm-Z fighters and their relatives. Drunk or disobedient soldiers and criminals recruited from prisons were sent to these troops, who often had to fight on the most dangerous sectors of the front, the report said.
“Assault fighters are just meat,” said a contract soldier from Unit 40318, which was deployed near the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine in May and June. He said he was providing medical care to a group of six or seven wounded Storm-Z fighters on the battlefield, ignoring a commander’s order to leave the men behind. He doesn’t know why the commander gave the order. However, this is a typical example of how the Storm-Z fighters are viewed by officers as less valuable than normal troops. The soldiers want to remain anonymous for fear of criminal prosecution in Russia.
Storm-Z is an unofficial designation of Russian troops that combines a term for stormtroopers with the letter Z, used by the military to symbolize its invasion of Ukraine. Even Russian state media have already reported on the existence of Storm-Z troops and their participation in fierce battles. Some of the members received medals for bravery, but their training is not reported, nor are any casualties.
The 100 to 150-man-strong penal units embedded in regular army units were generally sent to the most vulnerable parts of the front. There they often suffered heavy losses. Three of the Storm-Z fighters interviewed reported nightmarish battles in which much of their force was wiped out. A fighter convicted of theft and recruited from prison said all but 15 of the 120 men in his unit, part of the 237th Regiment, were killed or wounded in fighting near Bakhmut in June.
“In the most dangerous places on the front”
According to the Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent organization that tracks the war, the Storm-Z units are useful to the Russian Defense Ministry because they can be used as expendable infantry. “These fighters are simply sent to the most dangerous places on the front, for defense and attack,” the Russian-founded group said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has never admitted the formation of Storm-Z units. The first reports of their existence emerged in April, when the Institute for the Study of War cited what appeared to be a leaked Russian military report on the formation of the troops. It is unclear how many soldiers in total serve in the units.
President Vladimir Putin on Friday referred to convicts fighting in the regular army. At a televised meeting with a small group of regular Russian soldiers, he said he knew that two of their comrades, former prison inmates, had died in combat. “They sacrificed their lives for the fatherland and absolved themselves of guilt,” Putin said, adding that the families of the convicts would receive support, without elaborating.
The deployment of the Storm-Z troops represents an innovation for Russia in Ukraine: While the Wagner mercenary troop – which was disbanded after a mutiny in June – sent convicts to fight at the front, the Storm-Z units are under direct control Ministry of Defense Command. In the units, convicts are combined with regular soldiers who are punished for disciplinary violations.
According to Russian legislation on military discipline, a soldier can be transferred to a punishment unit only if he has been convicted by a military court. None of the soldiers interviewed by Reuters took part in a court hearing. In the Russian army, even a hint of drunkenness is a reason for being transferred. “If the commanders catch someone with the smell of alcohol on their breath, they immediately send them to the stormtroopers,” said one of them.
When contacted by Reuters, an officer from Unit 40318 declined to comment on Storm-Z. The Kremlin referred Reuters’ questions to the Russian Defense Ministry, which did not respond to a request for comment.