The new accounts of untrained and under-equipped conscripts that are being developed are a new indication of how vast the Kremlin’s military resources are, more than a month into a war that has left Moscow’s forces suffering from logistical problems and restrained by the fierce Ukrainian resistance. . One of the men, a student recruited in late February, said a fellow citizen told him to prepare to repel a close-up attack by Ukrainian forces in southwestern Donbass, but “I do not even know how to shoot an automatic weapon.” The student and his unit fired and escaped capture, but were wounded in a later battle. He did not say when the battles took place. While some information indicating poor conditions and morale among Donbass’s conscripts has surfaced on social media and some local media, Reuters has managed to compile one of the most comprehensive photos to date. In addition to the student draw, Reuters spoke with three conscript spouses who have cell phone contact with their comrades, a well-known draw and a source close to the pro-Russian separatist leadership who is helping to organize supplies for Donbass’s armed forces. Reuters verified the student’s identity, as well as other sources and the draws with which they are linked. The news agency could not independently confirm the narratives about what happened to the men after retirement. All six sources requested that their full names not be released, saying they feared retaliation for speaking out. Donbass’s armed forces are fighting alongside Russian soldiers, but they are not part of the Russian armed forces, which have different rules about which troops to send to battle. The story goes on Several Donbass lottery winners have been given a rifle called the Mosin, which was developed in the late 19th century and went out of production decades ago, according to three people who saw conscripts from the separatist region use the weapon. Images shared on social media, which Reuters could not independently verify, also showed Donbas fighters with Mosin rifles. The student said he had to drink water from a dirty lake due to lack of supplies. Two other sources close to the draw also told Reuters that the men had to drink raw water. Some Donbas conscripts were given the extremely dangerous mission of firing enemy artillery at other units so they could identify Ukrainian positions and bomb them, according to one source and video testimony of a prisoner of war published by Ukrainian forces. Asked to comment on the treatment and low morale of the Donbass lottery, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said it was a question for the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), the self-proclaimed separatist entity in Donbass. The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. A DNR spokeswoman said after seeing Reuters’ questions that there would be no answer on Friday. He did not say when the administration would respond. The messages left with a representative of the separatist army remained unanswered. After being pushed to the front line near the port of Mariupol – the scene of the fiercest battles in the war – a group of about 135 Donbas conscripts laid down their arms and refused to fight, according to Veronika, a conscript’s companion, who said that between they were also her husband. Marina, another conscript’s companion, said she had contacted a friend who was a member of the same group. “We refuse (to fight),” the friend wrote in a text message to Marina, seen by Reuters. The men were held in a basement by military commanders as punishment, Veronica and Marina said. The commanders verbally threatened them with retaliation, but then allowed the group to get out of the basement, pulled them behind the front line and put them in abandoned houses, Veronica said. Neither the Kremlin nor the separatist authorities responded to Reuters’ questions about the incident. CALL All sides in the Ukraine war have conscription systems in which young men are required by law to do military service. The Ukrainian government has declared a general mobilization, meaning that conscripts and reservists have been deployed to fight. Russia says it is not deploying troops to Ukraine, although it has acknowledged that a small number were mistakenly sent to fight. Donetsk separatist authorities announced in late February that they were recruiting all men of fighting age for immediate development. Recruitment officers showed up at workplaces around the Donetsk region and told officers to report for duty, while police ordered people on the streets to report to their local recruiting office, according to a Reuters reporter who was there in late February. Anyone who does not comply is in danger of being prosecuted. Reuters could not determine how many people have been summoned or what percentage of Donbass’s forces are drawn. None of the five conscripts had any previous military experience or training and four of the five were not given any training before being sent to battle, according to the wounded conscript, the three conscripts’ wives and acquaintances. “She never served in the army,” said one of the comrades, who gave her name as Olga and lives in the town of Makeevka. “He does not even know how to hold an automatic weapon.” Two of the wives said that their comrades developed in the front line, where they saw fierce fighting. “I’m at war,” she wrote in a text message seen by Reuters, which Marina, also from Makeevka, said came from her enlisted husband. Marina said she learned from her husband’s messages that his unit, which was fighting in the Donbas area, had been ordered to fire enemy fire at them. On March 12, Ukrainian forces released a video showing a prisoner of war. He said his name was Ruslan Khalilov, that he was a civil servant from the Donbas and that he was sent with zero training to Mariupol, where his role was to fire enemy fire to facilitate the bombing of Ukrainian targets. A man in Donbas who knows Khalilov confirmed to Reuters that he had been recruited and had no military training. Reuters found that the man knew Khalilov. “SLAUGHTERHOUSE” The draft student who spoke to Reuters said that one day after he was reported for service he was put in a mortar unit and then sent to battle. “They did not teach us anything,” he wrote to Reuters via the messenger app. “Up to that point I had only seen mortars in movies. Obviously, I did not know how to do anything with them.” He said that before leaving, his unit had been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian troops. “There were many casualties,” he wrote. “I hate war. I do not want it, I curse it. Why am I being sent to a slaughterhouse?” All the accounts collected by Reuters reported a severe shortage of supplies. The sources described little or no safe drinking water, portions of land for one man to share with many, and units to collect food. “We drank water with dead frogs,” said the conscript. “Supplies for the soldiers at the moment are a disaster,” said a source close to the Donetsk separatist leadership, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Neither the Kremlin nor the separatist authorities responded to Reuters’ questions about supplies and equipment for Donbass troops. RIFLE OF WORLD WAR II The same source said that some conscripts received the Mosin rifle from stockpiles dating back to World War II. The enlisted student said he had seen his colleagues use the rifle: “It’s like fighting with World War II muskets.” A Russian military man fighting near Mariupol has told Reuters he saw soldiers from the Donetsk separatist army carrying Mosin rifles. A video posted on social media on Tuesday by Russian military journalist Semyon Pegov shows a man who said he was a Donbass lottery winner wielding a Mosin rifle. Shortly after the men were recruited in late February, many of their wives, mothers and sisters began writing reports to the separatist leadership, the Donbass recruitment offices and the Kremlin, describing their treatment and asking for help. “Bring us back our men,” Reuters quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying. The three drawers’ wives who spoke to Reuters said they had not received definitive answers. On March 11, about 100 women gathered outside the offices of the separatist administration in Donetsk to demand answers, in a rare public outcry. Two women who took part in the rally said that Alexander Malkovsky, the head of the DNR’s military office, had come out and told them that men between the ages of 18 and 27 would be excluded from the camp. Reuters could not determine whether this has been implemented and could not reach Malkovsky. Two of the conscripts’ wives said that from the rally they learned from their comrades that conditions had improved: some units withdrew from the front line and were left to sleep in abandoned houses instead of trenches. (Edited by Daniel Flynn)
