Nothing new about Russian barbarism. Their troops have behaved like this since long before the Soviet Union. Raping, murder and thieving is an inherent part of the Russian forces psyche, it's not something new that Putin has encouraged. The troops themselves get beaten and murdered by their commanders, violence and brutality is just part and parcel of the Russian military.
Look at Stalin's tactics during WWII. Same approach, including using troops as cannon fodder as an accepted means of reconnaissance. Commanders send troops in over a wide front and those that get slaughtered show where their opponents strongest defences are. The loss of life is unimportant, all the more so because a lot of the troops aren't ethnic Russians anyway, so are expendable in the eyes of Russian commanders.