Draftees from Russia’s Irkutsk region, who previously complained about threats from ‘DPR’ commanders, sent to storm Avdiivka fortified district

Mobilised servicemen of the 1439 regiment from Russia’s Irkutsk region, who had previously reported having been threatened by commanders of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk people’s republic” (“DPR”) several times, were sent to attack the Avdiivka fortified district on 1 March, media outlet Baikal People reports, citing the soldiers and their relatives.

“The first and second battalions have been deployed. We were waiting to be transferred [to the territorial defence], but we’re not being transferred anywhere,” they say. 

On 26 February, the Irkutsk region governor Igor Kobzev promised that the soldiers would be “transferred to a new place of service” and made it known that he was monitoring the situation.

“There were no changes at all [in our situation], although we had high hopes,” Baikal People quotes the Irkutsk region draftees.

Mobilised servicemen from the Irkutsk region appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin thrice: they recorded two video messages asking for his help; the third time, their wives filed an official inquiry with the online-reception of the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office.

The men claimed that commanders from the “DPR” were using assault rifles against them for refusing to become an assault team. In the video, they say that the “DPR” evacuation groups only rescue their own soldiers and servicemen with light injuries from battlefields. According to the draftees, severely injured and killed Russian soldiers are not evacuated because the commanders are “scared of losing equipment”.