CNN Copies the content of a message supposed to come from soldiers belonging to a unit of the Russian Pacific Fleet located at the front in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
The letter is addressed to the governor of Primorye on the Russian east coast, Oleg Kozhemjako, and was published by a Russian military blog. It was not verified whether the message was real, how many soldiers had signed or what rank they had. However, Kozjemjako asserts that he received it.
The message contained in the message is clear and indicates that the Russian forces in the region are suffering heavy losses, both in terms of the number of dead and the destruction of military equipment.
Here you can read all about the war in Ukraine
torn into pieces
british newspaper Watchman They spoke to another Russian soldier who spoke of horrific experiences at the front in Luhansk.
Alexei Agavanov was called up for service with 570 other conscripts in Voronezh in southwestern Russia in October.
– I saw men being torn to shreds in front of me. Most of the wing is gone and destroyed. It was hell, he says, and says the department chief ran away before Ukrainian drones attacked them.
According to Agafanov, only 130 of the 570 conscripts of his district survived.
Many of those who survived are losing their minds after what happened. Nobody wants to go back there, he says.
growing resentment
The Guardian was unable to verify what Agavanov was saying, but the paper also spoke to another Russian soldier as well as relatives of surviving soldiers who told similar stories from the battlefield in Ukraine.
– We were completely exposed, we had no idea what to do. The other soldier says hundreds of us died.
Two weeks of training does not qualify for this, he says, but refers to the brief training the enslaved soldiers received before they were sent to the front.
In Russia, discontent with the war is growing as more and more soldiers return home in coffins. In Voronezh, a group of mothers and husbands of soldiers shot a video, addressed to the local governor.
– On the first day the recruits were sent to the front. Inna Voronina says in the video that the commander left the battlefield and ran away. She does not know the fate of her husband in Ukraine.
– Volunteers
A dead Russian soldier lies on the ground in the village of Zarechny in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Photo: AP/NTB
A soldier’s mother says that their relatives have received phone calls telling them that their sons and husbands are alive and well, and that they are completing their military service, which is probably not true.
– How the hell could they be so healthy and alive when they were all killed there, you ask.
President Vladimir Putin said last week that 318,000 Russians were mobilized and indicated a large part of them as volunteers.
However, the chaotic mobilization campaign and heavy military losses led to criticism, even from the most ardent supporters of the war in Russia.
– Did you lie again?
Anastasija Kasjevarova, a well-known journalist who supports the war in Ukraine, addresses Putin on Telegram and writes that the mobilized soldiers are left to fend for themselves, without communication, necessary equipment and medicines.
– Now they come home in zinc coffins. She told us that they would have training, and that they would not be sent to the front the following week. I asked are you lying again.
On Monday, Putin said he would “personally” discuss the issue of supporting the mobilized soldiers with the Russian people. At the same time, he urged local officials to listen to the soldiers and their needs.
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