Russia plans to deploy stray dogs as suicide bombers in Ukraine

Putin's visit to Ukraine 'desperate' show of control says expert

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Kremlin officials are considering strapping stray dogs with explosives and training them to run at Ukrainian tanks as animal suicide bombers. Vladimir Viktor Makarov, deputy for the Communist Party in Oryol City, came up with the bizarre idea at a regional meeting, as Vladimir Putin’s forces are on the back foot in Ukraine. Makarov suggested the deployment of dogs without homes would bolster Russian forces and treat the problem of animal homelesness in Russia, according to the Orel Times. 

In the regional Legislative Assembly’s Friday session, Makarov put forward the provision while discussing a bill on empowering local governments with the authority to deal with stray animals. 

Speaking to fellow members, he said: “I propose to educate these dogs to blow up tanks.”

Makarov previously voiced the idea of sending stray dogs to China to solve Russia’s epidemic of stray dogs.

But the motion failed to gain traction, as his colleagues and other parties brought up the various logistical issues involved in training stray dogs to become suicide bombers.

Oleg Koshelev, deputy speaker of the regional parliament, asked about the chances of sterilised dogs not biting people. Meanwhile, Deputy Andrei Frolov also asked about the financial cost of keeping one homeless animal per day. Given the lack of answers, the proposed law was discarded.

Mark Hertling, the former Commanding General of United States Army Europe, wrote on Twitter: “Don’t know why they see the need to train dogs to do this… they currently are asking RU soldiers to do the same.”

Rajan Menon, director of the Grand Strategy program at Defense Priorities, believes this is yet another sign Russian forces are losing the war.

Mr Menon told Newsweek: “This may be further evidence that the Russians are pulling out all the stops to prevail.”

The war policy proposal came a week after Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ratcheted up defence spending in 2023 by almost 150 percent, as Putin’s “special military operation” keeps faltering. 

Shoigu said: “It is necessary to continue the modernisation and creation of promising systems with their subsequent use in the course of a special military operation.”

Economic sanctions imposed by Western countries have led to an economic decline in Russia, with a fall of about 2.9 percent GDP expected in 2022 according to the Russian Government.

According to independent analysis by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the fall will be even steeper with Russia’s GDP predicted to drop by at least 3.4 percent in the best-case scenario and by up to 5.5 percent in the worst-case scenario.

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Ukraine has so far liberated around 54 percent of the maximum amount of extra territory Russia seized since February 24, the British Ministry of Defence’s latest update reported.

It added: “Russia now controls around 18 percent of internationally recognised areas of Ukraine, including the Donbas and Crimea regions under Russian control since 2014”.

US military intelligence estimates more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have perished on the battlefield since the beginning of the war.

On the Ukrainian side, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said they estimate up to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of Russia’s invasion.

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