'Russian troops survive just 20–35 minutes on Ukraine frontlines'

Russian pro-war military bloggers have claimed that troops deployed in Ukraine are surviving only “20–35 minutes” on the frontline amid intense drone warfare and infantry assaults.The reports, shared on pro-war “Z-channels” on Telegram and amplified by the Ukrainian ASTRA channel, and cited by Foreign Policy, highlighted the heavy toll of sustained drone strikes and high-intensity combat on Russian forces.“The average life expectancy of a Russian assault soldier on the front line is 20–35 minutes,” one widely shared post said, adding that the time from training ground to deployment was now “10 days to 3 weeks.”Another pro-war channel, "House Among the Laurels", claimed that mass mobilisation notices were being distributed across Russia, suggesting that this “indicates that the relevant instructions have been issued”.The posts also describe the war as being reshaped by drone warfare, with one author stating that combat survival rates have sharply declined and that many soldiers are “wounded or killed in the rear” before even reaching the front line.Ukraine has significantly intensified its long-range strikes on Russian military and energy infrastructure in recent months, aiming to disrupt Moscow’s war revenues and bring the impact of the invasion, now in its fifth year, home to Russia.The campaign has strained Russian fuel supplies and disrupted military logistics. Western analysts say it has also slowed Moscow’s battlefield operations, increasing pressure on the Kremlin to consider negotiations.On Sunday, Ukraine continued its large-scale drone campaign against Russia, setting a major oil refinery in the country's south ablaze and killing at least two people.Debris from intercepted Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at an oil refinery in Slavyansk-na-Kubani, a town in Russia's Krasnodar region east of occupied Crimea, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said. Regional authorities said the falling debris killed one person in Slavyansk and injured another in a nearby village.The Slavyansk refinery is one of southern Russia's major oil processing facilities, with an annual capacity of nearly 4 million tonnes of crude, according to its operator. It is also a key exporter of petroleum products, including fuel oil, naphtha and marine fuel, through Russia's Black Sea ports.