"I don't want to go [back to Ukraine] to kill and be killed," says Sergey - not his real name - who spent five weeks fighting in Ukraine earlier this year. The URL has been copied to your clipboard. There are reports of mobilised Russian troops locked in cellars and basements for refusing to fight in Ukraine. The enemy has somewhat reduced its activity for the fourth day, he said. I thought a long time about it and came to the decision. They would be looking at time in prison.. A video of the incident that circulated online showed the soldier complaining of poor training, using obscenities, and calling the drills an imitation. A Russian court sentenced Marsel Kandarov to five years in prison for refusing to take part in the special military operation. In July, the father of a Russian soldier told The Insider that troops were being detained or moved to a detention center in the occupied Luhansk region if they attempted to leave their posts. But after a certain adaptation period, our men fight brilliantly.". ", "People here don't understand how much danger we're in. In a rare public spat involving the Kremlin, 25 National Guard 'refuseniks' defied their . Ukrainian media claims a "riot" broke out on the warships, based in nearby Crimea.. At the same time, a number of Russian helicopters and drones were flying over Luzanivka beach, preparing for landing.. 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. It wouldn't cost much to equip us. Russian resistance is growing against Putin's war. If no ones willing to take the offers from the brigade commanders, I wont detain you. ", Russian mum's fight to save sons from Putin's war, Mariupol: 80 days that left a flourishing city in ruins, Pinned down by Russian fire in key frontline village. . Almost immediately his unit found itself under attack. Russia announced the mobilisation of 300,000 men in late September after suffering battlefield defeats at the hands of Ukrainian forces. Belarus allowed Russia to stage part of the invasion from its . The range of experience varies. 2. But from our own side.". For some Russians, refusing to return to the front line may be a moral stand. Nearly all . - Ukraine's President . Mr. Putin had resisted ordering a mobilization for months, but his decision underscored the Kremlin's struggles on the battlefield, where more than 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or . 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. In Kononov's case, court documents say that he pleaded guilty to evading military service and that he testified he wanted to take a temporary break from fighting in Ukraine. "We're on the same wavelength now," Sergei tells me. It soon became clear that not everyone was onboard with it. The troops are getting exhausted they wont be able to keep this up for a long period.. The soldier's testimony said war-weary soldiers were urged by superiors to return to the fight. 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. Not only are they clueless, but they're simply refusing to fight, Scherba, who is currently in western Ukraine, tells co-host Molly-Jong-Fast. "They beat him and then they took him outside as if they were going to shoot him. According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the occupiers are not able to resolve problems with manning their units. Stas was sent back to Russia. "This is all nonsense and fake claims and there is nothing to back them up with. Almost all his comrades were under the age of 25. Some Russian troops are refusing to return to fight in Ukraine because of their experiences on the front line at the start of the invasion, according to Russian human rights lawyers and activists. Why Russian Soldiers Are Refusing To Fight In The War On Ukraine. 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Russia has also turned to mercenaries to bolster its war efforts, deploying fighters from the shadowy Kremlin-linked Wagner group. Rumours abound of some Russian soldiers defying orders and refusing to cross into Ukraine to fight. ET. There is absolutely no trust in the authorities and the higher command, from the very first word, Kaminsky, 20, told Current Time in a phone interview on July 17, recorded from an undisclosed location in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. I told him: 'Better to take it. Daughter of Putin ally dies when . But, he had been sufficiently worried about his unit's reaction to his refusal that he decided to seek legal advice. In October, a new general was appointed to lead Russia's offensive. Putin needs to make a decision regarding mobilisation in the coming weeks, said Rob Lee, a military analyst. A Russian court sentenced a 24-year-old professional soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials have said. "Some soldiers, under the . "So many people don't . What is being given to Ukraine by the UK? Hundreds of Russian soldiers have refused to fight or fled their posts since the war in Ukraine began, according to report published Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal. These people are ready for anything. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the conflictin Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin touts success, yet some ofhis soldiers refuse to fight. It is, first of all, a classic example of military aggression; it is a war without a just cause. Perhaps this is due to the weather conditions, which doesnt allow them to actively use military equipment now, the spokesperson said. The soldier, not wanting to take part in a special military operation, did not report for duty in May 2022, said the press service on Thursday for courts in the region of Bashkortostan in the southern Urals. 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. July 20, 2022 16:08 GMT. 2023 Cable News Network. They were continually shelled, he says, both when moving and when parked overnight. 'You're Nobody' The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. A Russian serviceman takes part in military exercises outside the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Russian Far East on September 4. .. 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. In all, 78 soldiers including Kaminsky openly challenged his orders, and demanded to be either sent home or reassigned, he said. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Our commanders didnt even argue with us because we were not the first ones to leave, Bokov said. He shares that soldiers in Crimea refused to be . They don't care about the life of a soldier; whats more important is his position and rank, Kaminsky said. 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. The private then pushed the officer in the chest. Andrei, a Russian lieutenant, stopped fighting. This is not our war. The president announced what he called a "partial mobilisation", drafting hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens into the armed forces. 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. While the exact number of soldiers refusing to fight remains unclear, such stories illustrate what military experts and western governments say is one of Russias biggest obstacles in Ukraine: a severe shortage of infantry soldiers. Im warning you, this is a final offer, he is heard telling the soldiers. A Russian soldier has been sentenced for refusing to fight in the war in Ukraine. He says his convoy - travelling through northern Ukraine - broke up after just four days when a bridge they were about to cross exploded, killing comrades ahead of them. "As an officer he understood that if they went ahead, they wouldn't get out alive. Ukrainian . "I think that [so many of] our guys died largely because of this. The unit, stationed in Russias far east during peacetime, first entered Ukraine from Belarus when the war started at the end of February and saw bitter combat with Ukrainian forces. In another incident, Sergey says he had to overtake comrades trapped inside a burning vehicle in front of him. DeSantis won't say he's running. 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. Brigade has suffered "extremely high casualties" while fighting in Ukraine. We arent officially in a state of war, so they could not force me to go.. "They are keeping people there because they wanted to leave, refused to fight," the father alleged. The discontent in Kaminskys 11th Brigade is not an isolated case, and there are indications that Russian commanders are trying different tactics to keep the problem from spiraling out of control: for example, publicly shaming soldiers who are refusing to fight. The servicemen were reportedly removed from their unit as punishment. In particular, conscripts are starting to cancel their contracts. Russian forces have significantly reduced activity in the Vuhledar area due to the mass refusal of their troops to go on the offensive, spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's Tavriiskyi District forces, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, said on Feb. 27. . The official warned that the next phase of the war was likely to be an "attritional conflict" which could last . 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"Then they took him into a room and told him: 'You're coming with us, otherwise we'll kill you.' According to the head of his military commandant's office, Kononov was found at his place of residence with a friend after a search. I want to return to my family and not in a casket.. A stamp that was purportedly placed in the military-service booklet of one soldier who refused to serve in Ukraine. "The wall of misunderstanding between us has gone. They've spent time in the trenches, getting cold and hungry, but when they come back they just get shouted and sworn at by their commanders.". I have nothing to be ashamed of. 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. Alexander Avilov / Moskva News Agency. 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. Once again, we have changed their names. Separately, a military tribunal in Moscow sentenced a soldier to five years and six months in a penal colony for beating an officer during an argument, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday. The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. Some Russian troops are refusing to return to fight in Ukraine because of their experiences on the front line at the start of the invasion, according to Russian human rights lawyers and activists. He simply declares that he has anti-war convictions. Anyone? Moscow initially put about 80% of its main ground combat forces 150,000 men into the war in February, according to western officials. Russian state media aired footage of blitzed buildings and abandoned streets in Bakhmut , the eastern city where Ukrainian forces have been . Russia struggles to replenish its troops in Ukraine. The soldier, along with several others who decided not to take part in the fight anymore, put his refusal in writing. Anybody want it? the commander, a lieutenant colonel identified only by his surname Agafonov, can be heard telling the soldiers. Without a formal . Moscow's war is unjust, but there's no moral obligation for soldiers to refuse to fight. "It was a difficult decision for him to take. The soldier is in the unit, hes not running away anywhere. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook. Servicemen fire a 120mm mortar towards Russian positions at the frontline near Bakhmut, Ukraine. "It's a way of making people go back into that bloodbath," says Elena Popova from Russia's Movement of Conscientious Objectors. But even before that, there are many reports from our intelligence officers, who work quite successfully, about what is going at the enemy both in the rear and on the front line there are very frequent refusals to participate in hostilities., Read also: Russians pushing for breakthrough near Vuhledar, but unlikely to succeed, says UK intelligence. He had helped oversee fighting in eastern Ukraine. 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. Later that month he received an order to return to Ukraine - but told his commander that he was not prepared to go. 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russias troops in Ukraine are largely made up of contract soldiers: volunteer personnel who sign fixed-term contracts for service. From Ukraine there have been multiple reports of mobilised Russian troops being detained - in some cases, locked in cellars and basements - for refusing to return to the frontline. "It was blown up from a grenade launcher or something else. While speaking, he blew cigarette smoke into an officers face, who responded by pushing him away. Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova said all of the Ukrainian defenders on Snake Island were killed in an exchange with a Russian warship after they refused to surrender. Russian troops sabotaging their own equipment and refusing orders in Ukraine, UK spy chief says Published Thu, Mar 31 2022 7:30 AM EDT Updated Thu, Mar 31 2022 4:40 PM EDT Chloe Taylor @ChloeTaylor141 A Russian soldier was sentenced in July for refusing to fight in the Ukraine war. The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Mr Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 23. Russian troops release video as they say they will not fight. I signed a contract. 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 . Did you encounter any technical issues? 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. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much According to an audio recording shared with Current Time, commanders met with the insubordinate soldiers on July 17, alternately threatening, begging, and trying to coerce them to remain in service or rescind their resignation requests. This is not our war. About 140 Russian soldiers have reportedly been jailed so far. About 60 Russian paratroopers mutinied and refused to fight in Ukraine, according to Russian press reports related to Putin's government. Putin's army continues its full-scale aggression in Ukraine. Russian troops also lost territory in the southern Kherson region as well as the Lyman transport hub in eastern Ukraine. I will serve my remaining time and then I am out of here, he said. There are reports of mobilised Russian troops locked in cellars and basements for refusing to fight in Ukraine. We didn't leave anyone in the rear, so if someone decided to come in from behind and hit us there was no protection. 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. Military operation touts success, yet some ofhis soldiers refuse to fight in Ukraine are largely made of. Ukraine to fight in the chest suffered & quot ; so many of ] our guys died largely of! 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