The 'Cards' You Can't See

 There are a number of things over the war that you eventually start to wonder about:

1.  War dead, missing, captured for Russia.

About ten days into the conflict, I sat and watched a YouTube video of a Russian re-supply convoy group (probably 3 x APCs, a number of trucks, several fuel tankers, and a couple of jeeps).  

The convoy had been 'destroyed' several hours prior.  What remained was the vehicles, several charred bodies (probably from the missile hitting the fuel tankers or APCs), and around a dozen-odd  Russians dead.

So I sat and wondered....from the forty-odd guys who escaped and wandered away....probably led by some Major....what happened to them?

Did they run into another firefight and lose more?  Did the group split up and half got captured by the Ukrainians?  Did they respect the Major or possibly disrespect him enough to shoot him?  How did they explain things back at the front-lines?  

2.  Each time a Russian convoy was attacked....how does the commander explain losses to the General?  If you admit a loss of a quarter of all your vehicle assets destroyed in one single week....how does the general see that result?

3.  Guys who don't return from the mission....are they marked 'lost, captured, possibly deserted, probably-dead'?

4.  The reaction by front-line guys who've waited two days for 'fresh' food to arrive....only to discover that it's combat rations with a expiration date of August 2014.  Does the commander even bring this subject up to the general (the guy who probably sold the incoming combat rations six months ago).  

5.  Just how many fuel tankers remain from day one at this point?  Did the Ukraine destroy or take over 200 of the tankers?  Is fuel arriving in 55-gallon barrels onboard regular trucks?

6.  Where do deserted Russian soldiers go?  

7.  Is Putin literally living 24 hours a day....out of some bunker, like some news sites have suggested?  

8.  Surgut, Russia (middle of nowhere) often gets hyped-up now.....like some 'mother-of-all-bunker-cities'.  Why?

9.  Just how much paranoia now exists within the Kremlin circles?