Russian draftees from the Belgorod regions’ territorial defence unit have recorded a video address to complain about being deployed to the frontlines to assault targets without receiving proper training, the video was published by Ostorozhno, News and ASTRA.
There are about ten men in uniform standing in front of the camera. The speaker introduces himself as their commander. The soldier says that they were drafted into the Belgorod region territorial defence brigade and were stationed in Shebekino until 1-2 March. Then, according to the man, they were transferred to Donetsk to reinforce an assault unit “without orders or explanations”.
The commander said that the soldiers did not have the necessary level of training, but despite this they were sent “to storm villages”. The soldier also complained about the lack of equipment, communications, intelligence, and even maps of the area.
The speaker stated that he was refusing to carry out the assigned tasks because of the heavy losses of military personnel.
“This is bullshit. Personnel are dying. This is all that’s left of my platoon. Of the whole company,” he said.
At the same time, the man claims that the soldiers want to continue serving but only as part of Russia’s Armed Forces.
Earlier, a video emerged online showing Orenburg region draftees complaining that the Donetsk people’s republic militia was shipping them off to the frontlines as cannon fodder.
The draftees said they were trained for service in the territorial defence unit and did not have sufficient skills to take part in assaults. In addition, the soldiers complained of poor support from artillery, communications, sappers, and reconnaissance. The mobilised men said they had not even been given a map of the terrain, which forced them to act blindly on the battlefield.
Another report was published previously showing that most Irkutsk draftees from the 1439 regiment, who complained about threats made by the commanders several times, died when assaulting the Avdiivka defence lines. Relatives of two service members told Siberia.Realities.
The Irkutsk region draftees appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin three times: twice they recorded video messages, and on the third time their wives sent a written appeal to the online reception desk of the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office.
The servicemen claimed that Donetsk people’s republic commanders were shooting at them with submachine guns for refusing to go to the assault units. The appeal stated that Donetsk people’s republic evacuation groups take only their own fighters and soldiers with light injuries from the battlefield. According to the draftees, the seriously wounded and killed Russian soldiers are not evacuated or recovered because they are “afraid of losing their equipment”.
