An investigation by the BBCs Russian service showed that Russias defence ministry filled employment websites with vacancies, offering people with no combat experience opportunities to join the army on lucrative short-term contracts. More than 26,000 Russian military personnel have been killed in . Russian troops release video as they say they will not fight. We didnt have normal munitions, no flak jackets or helmets. 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. Several lawyers and human rights activists the BBC spoke to said they had been regularly offering advice to men trying to avoid returning to Ukraine. The soldier, "not wanting to take part in a . By The Associated Press August 11, 2022. Russian troops also lost territory in the southern Kherson region as well as the Lyman transport hub in eastern Ukraine. Russian servicemen near Kherson, Ukraine - 20 May 2022, By Olesya Gerasimenko and Kateryna Khinkulova, A convoy of Russian military vehicles heading towards the Donbas region - 23 February 2022, Local residents by a destroyed Russian tank in Sloboda, Chernihiv, Ukraine - 8 May 2022, Banner with the letters Z and V, in support of the Russian military, on a building in Moscow - 19 May 2022, Russian service personnel rehearse for the Victory Day Parade in Moscow - 7 May 2022, President Vladimir Putin visits soldiers wounded during the conflict in Ukraine - 25 May 2022, Pinned down by Russian fire in key front line village. "I had thought that we were the Russian army, the most super-duper in the world," says the young man bitterly. That's what people who have come from there say.". "They beat him and then they took him outside as if they were going to shoot him. A Russian soldier was sentenced in July for refusing to fight in the Ukraine war. April 16, 2022 17:49 GMT. AP. But you have until 6 p.m. today. "So off he went to Ukraine. Initially he "believed it was right" despite his dad trying to convince him not to go to war, the BBC report said. ", "We do not have any problems with soldiers leaving combat positions," the Kremlin leader continued. They'd been ordered to advance, but no one knew what lay ahead. But the soldier later discussed with his father what would happen if he refused to fight. Paratroopers from the 11th Separate Air Assault Brigade, based outside Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Buryatia region in eastern Siberia, arrived in Ukraines Kherson region on February 24, shortly after Russias invasion began. But you cannot force people to fight.". The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. By India Today Web Desk: As Russian troops try to take control over Ukraine's capital Kyiv, residents of the city are taking up arms to stand in the fight along with the country's military against Moscow's invasion.India Today's Rajesh Pawar visited an office of the Territorial Defence Forces in the city, where citizens are being equipped with weapons to defend against and fight off the . "We went without helicopters - just in a column, as though we were heading to a parade.". He gets it now. He simply declares that he has anti-war convictions. They were furious. Did you encounter any technical issues? The soldier, "not wanting to take part in a special . Troops are saying no to officers, knowing that punishment is light while Russia is not technically at war. Jan 27, 2023. ET Saturday: A curfew in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, has been extended from 5 pm until 8 am every day At least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been . Fewer and fewer Russian servicemen want to fight for the Kremlin's invading plans. But they eventually calmed down because there wasnt much they could do, he said. Soldiers are refusing to fire artillery on civilians until they clear the area. And this, according to a video on social media app Telegram, has . Brigade has suffered "extremely high casualties" while fighting in Ukraine. The Russian authorities dismiss reports of disillusioned soldiers and detention centres as fake news. 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. This is one of many reported incidents where Russian soldiers have been accused of refusing to take up arms in Ukraine. Produced by Will Vernon. ", "My first thoughts were 'Is this really happening to me?'". About 140 Russian soldiers have reportedly been jailed so far. Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric', The people who want you to believe the Ukraine war is fake. "It's a way of making people go back into that bloodbath," says Elena Popova from Russia's Movement of Conscientious Objectors. Missing In Action: A Russian Soldier's Mother Desperately Seeks Answers, Vox Pop: Muscovites On How Russia's Isolation Affects Daily Life. Russia has also turned to mercenaries to bolster its war efforts, deploying fighters from the shadowy Kremlin-linked Wagner group. For the remainder, however, unit commanders ordered them arrested, and held in a makeshift brig in the Luhansk region, according to Kaminsky, where they were being given food only once a day. The Ukrainian military on Friday reported significant fighting near Ivankiv, about 40 miles north west of Kyiv, as Russian forces apparently tried to advance on the capital from the north. appreciated. Before joining Current Times Moscow bureau in 2019, Rozhanskiy worked for the independent Russian television channel TV Rain. Daughter of Putin ally dies when . The range of experience varies. The Insider. "In these months [of compulsory military service] that I have left, anything - including the worst - could happen. Sergei (not his real name) says his son was beaten with a pistol for refusing to go back to the frontlines, There are reports of mobilised Russian troops locked in cellars and basements for refusing to fight in Ukraine, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Benyash said "hundreds and hundreds" of soldiers had been in touch with his team for advice on how they could avoid being sent to fight. Rumours abound of some Russian soldiers defying orders and refusing to cross into Ukraine to fight. - Ukraine's President . Russia blaming Ukraine for killing of daughter of Putin ally. His unit moved on through the Ukrainian countryside, but there was a clear lack of strategy, he says. I will serve my remaining time and then I am out of here, he said. Conscripts could fill some of the gaps, but they will be poorly trained. They made him lie on the ground and told him to count to ten. Never mind the myriad reports of Russian troops refusing to fight by the thousands, sabotaging their own shoddy equipment and even deliberately wounding themselves to abandon the war, Russian . "They are keeping people there because they wanted to leave, refused to fight," the father alleged. Im tired. ", "People here don't understand how much danger we're in. "He said it was my choice. 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. But his stand changed after the soldier found out he had been sent to fight with "no intelligence gathering, no preparation and no cover". CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Back in his living room, Sergei tells me that what happened to Stas in Ukraine has brought them closer together. He refused. Russia blaming Ukraine for killing of daughter of Putin ally, Daughter of Putin ally dies when car explodes, Russian media says, 'Russia is not Putin': 76-year-old Russian uses her art to speak out, Russian priest says he's helped 'thousands' of Ukrainian refugees get to Europe, Putin unveils imperialist mission: taking back land he says is Russia's, See rebranded McDonald's restaurants unveiled in Russia, CNN reporter was at Russia's Victory Day parade. At some point, Kaminsky's unit was then transferred to Luhansk, in Ukraines Donbas region. Russian . We've changed them to protect their identities. It's not just Ukrainians resisting Vladimir . In another incident where Russian soldiers have been accused of refusing to fight in Ukraine, the country's Operational Command South said Sunday in a Facebook post that a Russian military unit deployed in the south would not fight because of a lack of vital supplies such as water. I still havent seen her. I'm shocked by our army. In his conversations with Current Time, Kaminsky lamented what he described as commanders callous disregard for the wellbeing of their troops. Kononov reportedly had taken part in President Vladimir Putin's so-called special military operation in the Eastern European nation but left his military unit without permission for more than 10 days. The prisoners at the penal colony in St. Petersburg were expecting a visit by officials, thinking it would be some sort of inspection. "We do not have any camps or incarceration facilities, or the like [for Russian soldiers]," President Putin insisted earlier this month. Within the dense smoke caused by the propaganda of one side or the other, the truth is that there does seem to be a good number of Russian soldiers who have refused to fight in Ukraine. "I can see that the war continues, it is not going away," he told the BBC. A video showing two Russian soldiers being arrested after they refused to follow orders to fight in Ukraine has circulated on social media platform Telegram. Images by Anton Chicherov. Early in the war, Kaminsky said, commanders ordered the brigade to defend a line opposite Ukrainian forces that stretched up to 64 kilometers in length (40 miles) about four times what the brigades troop strength could reasonably protect. He believed it was right. Russians across the country rallied against the orderbut police have attempted to disperse anti-war protests as they detained hundreds, including some children. Just refuse," Sergei recalls telling Stas, who was already an army officer. A Russian soldier has been sentenced for refusing to fight in the war in Ukraine. Russia Ukraine War One Year Anniversary Ukrainian troops and their UK military instructors, commemorate lives lost in the Russian invasion of Ukraine during a sunrise commemorative service, at . Boris Johnson's cabinet received an update from a senior national security official on Tuesday morning. They said no remains had been found. Sergey's complaints about lack of equipment have also emerged in phone conversations alleged to be between Russian soldiers and their families, intercepted and posted online by the Ukrainian security services. Read about our approach to external linking. "Later I was told that the building they were in had been shelled and that all five men were missing. Members of Wagner told the captive soldiers that mines surrounded the military base where they were being held and threatened to shoot anyone trying to escape, the soldier wrote. During wartime, rules are totally different. Their identities have been protected by the BBC. The head of Britain's GCHQ spy service said on Wednesday that new intelligence showed some Russian soldiers in Ukraine had refused to carry out orders, sabotaged their own equipment and . Along with eight others, Dmitri told his commanders that he refused to rejoin the invasion. "He told me he had refused to lead his men to a certain death," Oxana tells me. When his son was sent to fight in Ukraine, Sergei begged him not to go. I thought a long time about it and came to the decision. 2. A Russian serviceman takes part in military exercises outside the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Russian Far East on September 4. The Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported Friday that Russian officials have detained contract soldiers who refuse to fight in special detention camps in occupied Ukraine. Andrei, a Russian lieutenant, stopped fighting. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Why Russian Soldiers Are Refusing To Fight In The War On Ukraine. It soon became clear that not everyone was onboard with it. My daughter was born three months ago. There are no legal grounds to start a criminal case if a soldier refuses to fight while on Russian territory.. By early July, Kaminsky said, he'd had enough: He refused to fight, one of 78 soldiers from his brigade who have refused orders. Russia struggles to replenish its troops in Ukraine. If I dont get the compensation that I am entitled to soon, I will go public and make a major issue of it., Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Finance chiefs at a Group of 20 conference in India this weekend issued a joint statement condemning Moscow for its war in Ukraine, with only China and Russia declining to sign. Independent Russian media have also been reporting hundreds of cases of soldiers refusing repeat deployments to Ukraine since the beginning of April. Youre just a soldier for them; youre nobody.. Belarus allowed Russia to stage part of the invasion from its . Russian paratroopers. Many of the units that are supposed to train conscripts are fighting themselves, Lee said. A month later - 24 February, the day Russia launched its invasion - he was told to cross the border. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, Quote from the General Staff: "Troops from the so-called volunteer Cossack Detachment, attached to the 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet, are refusing to continue to take part in offensive operations due to the failure of the offensive and significant personnel losses near Vuhledar.". The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Soldiers from Ukraines Special Operations Forces and the 72nd Separate Mechanised Brigade destroyed pieces of Russian equipment and captured two Russian servicemen near Vuhledar on 23 February. Law enforcement located the man, Marsel Kandarov, in September, the statement added. By Robert Coalson. Russias troops in Ukraine are largely made up of contract soldiers: volunteer personnel who sign fixed-term contracts for service. Feb. 27 2023, Published 8:05 a.m. He and several others who'd decided to refuse had their guns taken off them and were put under armed guard.". All his bravado has gone. They made him lie on the ground and told him to count to ten. In Buryatia, where the 11th Brigade is based, dozens of personnel have sought legal assistance from local activists, seeking to break their contracts and get out of service in Ukraine, for various reasons. Dmitri's refusal to fight in the war is the latest in a string of reports of Russian soldiers disobeying orders to join the fight. Quote from the General Staff: "Troops from the so-called . The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Mr Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 23. A Russian soldier who refused to continue fighting in Ukraine, he was beaten until his face was . 02:32. Deployed to Ukraine in July, Andrei was placed in detention for refusing to carry out orders. Updated at 1:10 p.m. on April 14 to add that the soldier's lawyer has taken down the original photo of the service card. The soldier, identified by the alias Vladimir, testified he was held in the town of Bryansk with about 80 soldiers guarded by the shadowy organization Wagner Group. A Russian military unit deployed in Ukraine's south has refused to fight over a lack of vital supplies such as water, Ukraine said Sunday. He said he himself had written some 20 complaints and demands for reassignment, but his superior officers had rejected them -- or even tore the papers up completely. He revealed to his father what had happened to him in detention: how a "different group" of Russian soldiers had tried to force him to fight. Instead, men in uniform arrived and offered them amnesty if they agreed to fight alongside the Russian army in . 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. That is not to say that prosecutions are not being attempted. A group of Russian soldiers are suing the army after they were fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine. Another soldier from the 205th Brigade also said commanders gave no preparation to soldiers before the war, and when the units deployed, they were told they were going on exercises. Instead they were expected to operate without even basic equipment, such as night vision devices, he says. We had no food, no water, he said. More than 100 Russian national guardsmen have been fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine, court documents show, in what looks to be the clearest indication yet of dissent among some parts of . They didn't even [try to] dissuade us, because we weren't the first," Sergey told the BBC. Many Russian soldiers would rather be dismissed or transferred than fight in Ukraine. Moscow initially put about 80% of its main ground combat forces 150,000 men into the war in February, according to western officials. The contract soldier was subsequently sentenced on July 21 to restriction in military service for one year, with a 10 percent deduction from his monetary allowance going to the state. The soldier, along with several others who decided not to take part in the fight anymore, put his refusal in writing. Russian resistance is growing against Putin's war. Vladimir Putins forces launched an invasion of Ukraine in February but never formally declared war, meaning soldiers can be fired but shouldnt be jailed, an attorney who has represented reluctant soldiers told the newspaper. Emilio Morenatti. A Russian court has sentenced a 24-year-old professional soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials said Thursday. In . Journalists fight on their own frontline. 27-year-old Chinese man struggles to find job because he l King Charles to evict Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage so he can give it to Andrew, 'Elvis' star Austin Butler was rushed to ER after 'body just started shutting down', Woke Chicago mayor loses re-election bid as city battles crime epidemic, King Charles evicting Harry, Meghan from Frogmore Cottage, giving to Andrew, Hoda Kotbs lengthy Today show absence caused by family health matter, Ed Sheerans wife, Cherry Seaborn, was diagnosed with tumor during pregnancy, Heroic bus driver saves student from passing car, Savannah Guthrie Rushed Out Of Today After Testing Positive For COVID-19 During Live Broadcast, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry have first night out since bombshell 'Spare' released. Just a soldier for them ; youre nobody.. 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