I'm shocked by our army. DeSantis won't say he's running. While speaking, he blew cigarette smoke into an officers face, who responded by pushing him away. He told me his face was covered in blood. They haven't been seen for five months. UK intelligence estimates Russian losses near Vuhledar, Russians pushing for breakthrough near Vuhledar, but unlikely to succeed, says UK intelligence, Lori Lightfoot becomes the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose re-election, Fiery Greece train collision kills 32, injures at least 85, A condition called POTS rose after covid, but patients can't find care, Drones fly deep inside Russia; Putin orders border tightened, Rep. Lauren Boebert Gets Absolutely Schooled By Jamie Raskin Using Trump's Own Words, Russia redeploys unit of brigade created for war against Chechen Republic of Ichkeria near Vuhledar, Ukrainian Forces Demobilize Russian Tanks Near Frontline Town, Irkutsk conscripts appeal to Putin for third time for being sent to war without training, Multiple Russian Armored Vehicles Destroyed in Single Battle, Ukrainian Brigade Says, The mysterious death of Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrovs favorite fighter. Russia launched the attack on Ukraine from three sides on February 24. Three days of duty? More than 26,000 Russian military personnel have been killed in . A similar account to Dmitris was given to the BBCs Russian service by Sergey Bokov, a 23-year-old soldier who at the end of April decided to leave the army after fighting in Ukraine. Servicemen fire a 120mm mortar towards Russian positions at the frontline near Bakhmut, Ukraine. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) A U.S. Army veteran from Wisconsin died on Feb. 16 while fighting on the . He shares that soldiers in Crimea refused to be . Russian soldier Ilya Kaminsky says rank-and-file troops have "absolutely no trust . Just refuse," Sergei recalls telling Stas, who was already an army officer. 2d ago. It's absurd. For many Russian soldiers, the war in Ukraine is one they don't want to fight. But his stand changed after the soldier found out he had been sent to fight with "no intelligence gathering, no preparation and no cover". Once again, we have changed their names. They don't care about the life of a soldier; whats more important is his position and rank, Kaminsky said. Then I got a text message saying he and four other officers had been put in a basement. "There are held in pits, tortured and things like that. Russia has suffered a series of military setbacks in the Ukraine war that triggered criticism of the army's leadership. One year from the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, a Catholic priest recounted how a Ukrainian soldier was spared from being killed by . Honestly, we had to supply ourselves with food. R ussian troops have destroyed a concrete dam built in Ukraine's Kherson Region in 2014 to cut off water to Crimea, the RIA news agency quoted the governor of Russian-annexed Crimea Sergei . The troops are getting exhausted they wont be able to keep this up for a long period.. But significant damage has been done to that army, which has confronted logistical problems, poor morale and an underestimated Ukrainian resistance. An anonymous specialist from a coalition of lawyers and experts from Russian human rights organizations told independent Russian news outlet MediaZona that Kononov's punishment in the form of a one-year restriction in military service does not imply early dismissal and is instead "something like corrective labor for military personnel.". Ukrainians have been asked to avoid going near windows or on balconies and be . Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook. Brigade has suffered "extremely high casualties" while fighting in Ukraine. But you have until 6 p.m. today. But he stresses that Russian military law does include clauses which allow soldiers to refuse to fight if they don't want to. He was soon transferred to Belgorod, a Russian city close to the border with Ukraine, where he has been stationed since. AP. Soldiers are refusing to fire artillery on civilians until they clear the area. Other units include troops from private military companies like Vagner, or specialized, semiautonomous units overseen by Chechnyas strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. In all, 78 soldiers including Kaminsky openly challenged his orders, and demanded to be either sent home or reassigned, he said. There are reports of mobilised Russian troops locked in cellars and basements for refusing to fight in Ukraine. In the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk, on the home base for the 205th Cossack Motorized Rifle Brigade, commanders have erected a wall of shame with the names, ranks, and photographs of some 300 soldiers who have disobeyed orders in the Ukraine war. Ilya Kononov, a contract soldier from the city of Pskov in western Russia, was charged with "unauthorized abandonment of the unit" in July, court records show. A group of Russian soldiers recently sent Vladimir Putin a video complaining about "being sent to the slaughter" and begging for more military support in . The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! But without conscript battalions, Russia could soon struggle to hold the territory it currently controls in Ukraine, especially as Ukraine receives better equipment from Nato, he said. A Russian soldier's service card was stamped "traitor" for refusing . Nearly five months into the largest war in Europe since World War II, a growing number of Russian soldiers like Kaminsky are refusing to fight, demanding to return home, or outright not going to Ukraine in the first place. Their identities have been protected by the BBC. Troops are saying no to officers, knowing that punishment is light while Russia is not technically at war. Because they ignore everything. "He told me he had refused to lead his men to a certain death," Oxana tells me. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. People in Kyiv are being warned of street fighting and "subversive groups" on the third day of the Russian invasion, with reports of 198 Ukrainians dead nationwide since troops first crossed the . Lee said one option for the Kremlin would be to authorise the deployment of conscript units to Ukraine, despite Putins earlier pledges that Russia would not use any conscripts in the war. As they stopped for the evening in an abandoned farm, their commander said: "Well, as you will have worked out by now, this is not a joke. He simply declares that he has anti-war convictions. In January, Sergey was sent near the border with Ukraine for what he was told would be military drills. "Those refusing to fight are doing so because they've had more than their fair share of front line action," explains Elena Popova. A month later - 24 February, the day Russia launched its invasion - he was told to cross the border. RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. And this, according to a video on social media app Telegram, has . Soldiers like Sergey - reluctant to return to the front line - are not unusual, according to Ruslan Leviev, the editor of Conflict Intelligence Team, a media project investigating the experiences of the Russian military in Ukraine through confidential interviews and open source material. The NY Times published a story on this topic today titled "Russia's New Offensive Sends Conscripts Into the Teeth of Ukraine's Lines." "Every day, sometimes more than once a day, small groups come forward and try to take our positions," said one of the Ukrainian soldiers who participated in the fight, and who asked to be identified only by his nickname, Diesel, for security reasons. 'I'm Warning You, This Is A Final Offer' Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! My contract ends in June. More than 550,000 soldiers from Putin's failing army have been killed or injured so badly in Ukraine that they are no longer able to fight, according to Minusrus. Dmytrashkivskyi added the Russians had carried out 15 assaults over the past day, while the same number stood at 60 assaults per day a month ago. "The commanders' aim is to keep the soldiers down there. The Kremlin has declined to call for a general mobilization to replenish lost troops, instead using what analysts have described a covert, hybrid campaign to recruit fresh troops: using private military companies, extended age limitations, lucrative financial incentives, and sometimes coercive persuasion to bolster the ranks. The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. The beach, just north of Odessa in southern Ukraine, was defended with mines and anti-tank hedgehogs. Missing In Action: A Russian Soldier's Mother Desperately Seeks Answers, Vox Pop: Muscovites On How Russia's Isolation Affects Daily Life. I dont regret it one bit. Russian . Read about our approach to external linking. Troops had been withdrawn from northern Ukraine and appeared to be regrouping for an assault in the east. 2. Almost immediately his unit found itself under attack. .. Advertisement .. Russian Soldier Brutally Thrashed For Refusing To Fight In Ukraine War: Report, Arrested AAP Ministers Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain Quit Delhi Cabinet, Nithyananda's 'Republic Of Kailasa' At UN Meet. A Warner Bros. I signed a contract. Belarus allowed Russia to stage part of the invasion from its . Russian resistance is growing against Putin's war. Second, the conduct of the war by Russian forces violates the most . Russia lacks sufficient ground units with contract soldiers for a sustainable rotation. The man narrated the ordeal his son suffered to the BBC, saying that he had begged his son not to go. At another moment, he said, unit commanders ordered a squad of five soldiers to try to seize a nearby settlement defended by up to 200 Ukrainian soldiers. Now, at least four want their superiors punished for the seemingly illegal arrests, according to the newspaper. And there is no guarantee that more prosecutions might not emerge in the future. The soldier, along with several others who decided not to take part in the fight anymore, put his refusal in writing. As a result of what I believe were tactical and strategic mistakes made by my commanders and their total disregard for human life I made the decision not to continue in the military operation, one soldier jailed for over a week said in written testimony to prosecutors, which was observed by the Guardian. Human rights activist Sergei Krivenko says he is not aware of any prosecutions of those refusing to return to the front. CNN in Russia 10 videos. Why wasn't it done?". 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