©Reuters. A screenshot of footage obtained by Reuters shows a fighter from the Russian army’s BARS 9 volunteer force playing with a toy plane found in an apartment in Balakliia, eastern Ukraine, September 7, 2022. Video obtained by REUTERS AT
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By Natalie Thomas, Maria Tsvetkova and Anton Zverev
BALAKLIIA, Ukraine (Reuters) – When Russian forces withdrew from the eastern Ukrainian town of Balakliia in late 2022, pursued by Ukrainian troops and under artillery fire, they left a group of poorly equipped volunteers to guard the retreat.
The force of about 50 men came from the National Army Combat Reserve – known by its Russian acronym BARS – a collection of units totaling several thousand fighters that the Russian Defense Ministry has deployed to Ukraine to supplement its regular forces.
About four hours of bodycam footage worn by one of the fighters, obtained by Reuters, provides a rare first-hand view of a BARS unit’s combat operations, according to three military experts who reviewed the video to provide an assessment for the event. news agency of the unit’s military capabilities.
The invasion of Ukraine marked the first time BARS, founded in 2015, deployed units into combat. The video, along with interviews with four members of the platoon, shows that the BARS unit was left to defend Balakliia without heavy weapons or air support, malfunctioning communications and confusing coordination with the regular army.
“Where is our air force?” one of the BARS fighters asked. His team, tasked with defending an intersection north of the city, was sharing a canteen of cold meat stew during a lull in Ukrainian bombing.
The team leader, Anton Kuznetsov, whose bodycam recorded the exchange, told the men there had to be a good reason for the lack of air support. “Did they realize we’re surrounded?” another soldier complained, off-screen.
Contacted by Reuters, Kuznetsov said he had taken the bodycam video and had lost the camera’s memory card, but declined to comment on combat operations. The memory card was left in the backpack after collection.
The Russian Defense Ministry and the Kremlin did not respond to requests for comment on the video or on the extent to which the army relies on BARS irregulars. A deputy commander of the BARS 9 force that fought in Balakliia, contacted by Reuters, confirmed his position in the unit but declined to comment on his activities.
The news agency could not independently determine how representative the conditions in the video were of the broader BARS force’s operations.
In recent months, Russia has made territorial gains along some parts of the front line. Ukraine, which replaced its military leaders in early February, has repeatedly said it needs more equipment and support from Western allies to prosecute the war.
On at least two occasions, President Vladimir Putin has publicly praised BARS’s contribution to the Russian campaign. In an annual speech to parliament on February 21, 2023, he said that BARS fighters were patriotic volunteers and thanked them for their service.
As the war enters its third year, BARS is part of a patchwork of irregular forces helping Russia avoid an unpopular general draft, military experts said.
Rod Thornton, an associate professor in the Department of Defense Studies at King’s College London, estimated that BARS provides between 10,000 and 30,000 men to a Russian force operating in or near Ukraine of around 200,000 men. Russia does not reveal the number of BARS fighters.
In recent months, BARS units have fought in northeastern Ukraine and the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, two of the most bitterly contested fronts, according to updates posted on social media by Dmitry Rogozin, Moscow’s appointed representative for Zaporizhzhia in the upper seat of the Russian parliament and a report by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
The BARS units have been useful in filling gaps in Russian manpower, said Nick Reynolds, a researcher in Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a U.K.-based defense think tank.
“With the Russian state clearly mobilizing for a longer conflict, a system like BARS provides an additional avenue from which to mobilize parts of the population, train them and provide additional mass,” said Reynolds, who reviewed the footage of the bodycam.
He said the group shown in the video looked “not particularly professional or well trained.”
“WE HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN”
On September 6, 2022, the core of Russian forces in Balakliia was retreating in the face of a major Ukrainian counteroffensive. Ukrainian forces have already taken the nearby settlements of Verbivka and Lagery. But the BARS fighters remained behind.
Kuznetsov, 29 and originally from Siberia, was one of the squad leaders of a BARS 9 platoon, commanding a dozen men, the video showed.
The BARS platoon commander in Balakliia ordered Kuznetsov’s team to head to the intersection and push back the Ukrainian forces, the video shows.
They knew they would be defeated by the Ukrainians, the conversations caught on camera proved this. The heaviest weapons available to Kuznetsov’s team were machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.
Two members of the BARS force were sent to search for a point with a radio signal to contact a nearby artillery unit for support, according to one of the four fighters who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
After about 24 hours they located an artillery unit, but they were already retreating toward Russia, so they couldn’t help, the person said.
“My first impression was that we were forgotten,” he said. “It hit me very hard psychologically.”
TOY SOLDIERS
On September 7, the last day recorded by the bodycam, Kuznetsov’s team was keeping watch from an apartment building overlooking the intersection, as radio traffic reported the approach of Ukrainian forces.
While they waited, Kuznetsov and two of his men played with a toy plane and a toy tank, miming a soldier requesting air support.
Shortly thereafter, a radio report came in that five Ukrainian Humvees had been spotted nearby. Kuznetsov tells the team about him: “Okay, men, let’s get in the mood for battle.” The footage ends as Kuznetsov descends the stairs into the street.
Two of the fighters told Reuters they engaged Ukrainian forces, but the Russians were outnumbered.
After the retreat, BARS 9 temporarily disbanded, according to the same two fighters, although it has since been restarted.