Russian generals dumbfounded… Russian troops leave their positions en masse

Today, the biggest news comes from the Sumy sector.

Here, phones recovered from eliminated Russian soldiers are exposing how badly conditions have deteriorated inside Russia’s forces as autumn temperatures fall and battlefield conditions worsen. The recordings show soldiers from the Sever Group of Forces documenting a supply system that has stopped reaching even positions in the rear, where troops complain that food is already running short.

At the frontline, the supply failure has become so severe that some Russian soldiers are resorting to filtering swamp water filled with insect larvae because clean drinking water is no longer reaching their positions. With food, clean water, and basic supplies failing to reach frontline positions, more Russian soldiers are now trying to escape these conditions altogether. Some are attempting to go absent without leave before being sent into further assaults, while others abandon their positions, surrender to Ukrainian forces, or simply stop responding to their commanders. By the time soldiers are abandoning their posts rather than waiting for resupply, the shortages are already undermining Russia’s ability to keep frontline units functioning.

The reason Russian resupplies are failing is that autumn has stripped away much of the concealment protecting the routes used to reach frontline positions. Those deliveries rely heavily on motorcycles, small all-terrain vehicles, and soldiers moving supplies on foot through tree lines, all of which are now far easier for Ukrainian drones to detect from above. During the warmer months, dense foliage gave these movements at least some concealment from reconnaissance drones overhead. Now, autumn has stripped that protection away, leaving supply routes, vehicles, and infantry far easier to detect from the air. That loss of concealment is even more damaging because over the past year, Ukrainian units have pushed their FPV kill zone roughly twenty to thirty kilometers behind the frontline, allowing them to strike Russian vehicles while they are still traveling along rear supply roads long before they reach forward positions.

As a result, food, water, ammunition, and other necessities can be lost far from the front, leaving isolated soldiers with fewer supplies and making desertion seem like the most logical choice for some of those already trying to escape their positions.

The footage from the sector shows how this logistical pressure is being applied in practice. Ukrainian sleeper drones are being positioned along Russian supply routes, where they remain inactive until a vehicle approaches, preserving their battery life before striking suddenly at short range. This allows Ukrainian operators to keep drones waiting along exposed routes for longer periods and ambush the small transport vehicles Russia relies on to move food, ammunition, and other supplies toward the front.

Russian troops cannot simply avoid the danger by abandoning vehicles and moving on foot, because the same loss of foliage has also exposed infantry moving through tree lines and wooded areas. The latest footage also shows Ukrainian drones detecting and striking Russian foot soldiers in these areas, meaning both the vehicles carrying supplies and the troops trying to move without them are now far easier to find and destroy.

Overall, winter will put even more strain on Russian commanders, as forward positions need more fuel, food, warm clothing, batteries, and medical supplies at the same time that deliveries become less reliable. Units left without regular resupply become harder to rotate and control, while soldiers already trying to avoid assaults have even less reason to remain in isolated positions for extended periods. The same supply routes are also needed to bring fresh troops and ammunition forward, so disruption behind the line directly limits how often Russian forces can assemble new attacks. As temperatures fall, some Russian positions may simply become impossible to keep fully manned because every replacement soldier and every load of supplies has to cross the same Ukrainian kill zone.