Russian soldiers have to buy their own radios and phones in battle, but the systems are incompatible and proving useless: reports

• A Russian mercenary group listed equipment failings that troops are suffering on the front line.
• The group, known as Rusich, said soldiers were buying their own communications equipment.

Russian troops are resorting to buying their own communications devices which are incompatible with one another as they face equipment shortages on the front line, a think tank report said.

In its daily briefing on the Ukraine conflict, Washington, DC, based think tank The Institute for the Study of War said that the Rusich, a Neo-Nazi Russian mercenary group, were complaining on Telegram about serious equipment shortages on the battlefield.

"The Rusich Group also noted that many Russian personnel buy their own communication technology, making it difficult for different units using different models of technology to communicate with each other," it said.

The report didn't specify what kinds of communications technology Russian troops were buying, but there have long been reports that Russian soldiers lack the equipment to communicate effectively and so use cell phones or their own radio systems.

According to the report, the Rusich also complained that their counterbattery, or capacity to rapidly identify and take out artillery positions, is inferior to Ukraine's.

It added that its Tornado-S multiple-launch rocket system is inferior to Ukraine's US-provided HIMARS long-range missiles, according to the ISW.

This is because, it said, they could more easily be prevented from reaching their targets by electronic warfare devices scrambling their navigation systems.

It also complained that the wounded and dead were not being recovered from the battlefield, according to the ISW.

"The Rusich Group claimed that Russian forces do not evacuate wounded or dead personnel from frontline areas, and that this lack of evacuations has prompted some Russian personnel to refuse to complete combat tasks," it said.

The ISW observed that such problems appeared to be widespread and it has "routinely observed other Russian units expressing similar issues with counterbattery capabilities, communications, and evacuations."

Russia has faced long-standing problems with properly equipping its troops in Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a rare admission of fault in June saying that communications equipment was among the shortages.

"During the course of the special military operation, it became clear that many things were lacking," he said. "High-precision ammunition, communications equipment, drones etc... We have them, but unfortunately, there is not enough."

During the conflict, Russian soldiers have resorted to using cell phones for communication, which has enabled Ukraine in some cases to identify their location and attack them.

In January, Ukrainian forces were able to identify a gathering of Russian forces in Makiivka, east Ukraine, and killed 89 in a missile attack the Kremlin blamed on cellphone use by troops.

The problem has persisted despite a ban last year on Russian forces using cell phones on the front line. A report by Army Technology found that the "failure of Russian military leadership and discipline, the lack of a viable encrypted communications solution" were among the reasons for the problem persisting.

In recent weeks the Rusich, who have been linked to the abuse and torture of Ukrainian prisoners, have publicly criticised the Kremlin, saying they were refusing to fight because the Kremlin failed to help one of its leaders after his arrest in Finland.