[SeekAndFind]

SHOOT TO KILL: UK Defense Intel bulletin for 4 NOV notes that frontline RU units in Ukraine are now positioned in front of “Blocking Units”. These specially designated Russian troops are authorized to shoot and kill deserters.

[MinorityRepublican]

According to member of Ukraine's parliament's committee on national security and defense Fedir Venislavsky, the Russian army used Chechen (Kadyrovtsy) detachments in March 2022 as barrier troops to shoot deserters who tried to leave combat zones. In October 2022, Ukrainian intelligence published a purported phone call where a Russian soldier described both his task of killing inmates recruited from prisons by the Wagner Group if they were retreating and how he would be killed by others if he himself retreated. In November, the British defence ministry assessed that Russia was using blocking units.