cannon fodder

The Storm-V units have been used by Russia as cannon fodder, sent to stage assaults on the worst parts of the frontline.

Then, just like the Confederate slave conscripts, just like the Russian cannon fodder in Bakhmut, they’ll be discarded — forgotten, broken and left to rot in the very ruins they helped create.

The bad guys are cannon fodder, though I did like the way one mobster sadly sighs at a grenade before he explodes.

The illegal invasion has led to an estimated 100,000 Ukranian deaths and even more Russian deaths, as Putin treats his soldiers like cannon fodder.

Graham says his son and his comrades, who hailed from all over the world and had varying degrees of military experience, were "totally ill-equipped" and used as "cannon fodder".