The soldier, "not wanting to take part in a . ET. 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. He told me his face was covered in blood. Anyone? RUSSIAN soldiers are suffering from low morale with some reportedly refusing to fight the war in Ukraine, according to a member of an elite Russian army unit on the ground. Along with eight others, Dmitri told his commanders that he refused to rejoin the invasion. 03:25. He said the "Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most massive violations of human rights" being witnessed in the world today. The way my son was treated wasn't only illegal, it was inhuman.". Russia blaming Ukraine for killing of daughter of Putin ally. Hes not refusing to carry out orders, so the article on insubordination or disobeying orders isnt relevant either, because hes not refusing to do so, he said. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Russias troops in Ukraine are largely made up of contract soldiers: volunteer personnel who sign fixed-term contracts for service. According to the head of his military commandant's office, Kononov was found at his place of residence with a friend after a search. The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. This is not our war. Troops had been withdrawn from northern Ukraine and appeared to be regrouping for an assault in the east. Why Russian Soldiers Are Refusing To Fight In The War On Ukraine. But the soldier later discussed with his father what would happen if he refused to fight. "Later I was told that the building they were in had been shelled and that all five men were missing. Reports from Russia said authorities would call up 300,000 people with "relevant" skills or military experience. 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 . In . 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. This is one of many reported incidents where Russian soldiers have been accused of refusing to take up arms in Ukraine. All Rights Reserved. The BBC has been speaking to one such soldier. 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. I still havent seen her. Conscripts could fill some of the gaps, but they will be poorly trained. The servicemen were reportedly removed from their unit as punishment. Initially he "believed it was right" despite his dad trying to convince him not to go to war, the BBC report said. AP. "Another reason is the foul way they're being treated. Russian rights activists say hundreds, possibly thousands of troops are balking at orders to deploy, to keep fighting, or to remain on the battlefield without rotating out or home. Stas, an army officer, had written a letter to the . 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. These people are ready for anything. 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.. 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. Many of the newly mobilised troops were quick to complain that they were being sent to a war zone without sufficient equipment or adequate training. Russian troops also lost territory in the southern Kherson region as well as the Lyman transport hub in eastern Ukraine. "They beat him and then they took him outside as if they were going to . He was soon transferred to Belgorod, a Russian city close to the border with Ukraine, where he has been stationed since. 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. Im warning you, this is a final offer, he is heard telling the soldiers. Earlier Ukraines General Staff reported that invading Russian forces were seeing mass desertion among its troops amid Ukrainian military successes. Separately, a military tribunal said it sentenced Kandarov to five years behind bars for evading military service during mobilisation for more than a month. Later that month he received an order to return to Ukraine - but told his commander that he was not prepared to go. Dmitris refusal to fight highlights some of the military difficulties the Russian army has faced as a result of the Kremlins political decision not to formally declare war on Ukraine preferring instead to describe the invasion, which will soon reach its fourth month, as a special military operation. Russian soldier Ilya Kaminsky says rank-and-file troops have "absolutely no trust . They were continually shelled, he says, both when moving and when parked overnight. A month later - 24 February, the day Russia launched its invasion - he was told to cross the border. Boris Johnson's cabinet received an update from a senior national security official on Tuesday morning. Troops from the Russian so-called Cossack Detachment are refusing to take part in offensive operations due to Russian forces heavy losses near Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast. Youre just a soldier for them; youre nobody.. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook. "We went without helicopters - just in a column, as though we were heading to a parade.". 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. A Russian court sentenced a 24-year-old professional soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials have said. A Russian court sentenced a 24-year-old professional soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials have said. 02:32. The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Mr Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 23. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Second, the conduct of the war by Russian forces violates the most . More than 26,000 Russian military personnel have been killed in . During wartime, rules are totally different. The attack is doubly unjust. Quote from the General Staff: "Troops from the so-called . 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. Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric', The people who want you to believe the Ukraine war is fake. 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 . And this, according to a video on social media app Telegram, has . Im tired. I want to return to my family and not in a casket.. A Russian soldier's service card was stamped "traitor" for refusing . Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! We had no food, no water, he said. But you cannot force people to fight.". The president announced what he called a "partial mobilisation", drafting hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens into the armed forces. 2023 BBC. Other units include troops from private military companies like Vagner, or specialized, semiautonomous units overseen by Chechnyas strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. Some large government-run companies have received letters urging them to sign up their staff for the army. Russian troops release video as they say they will not fight. There was no basic hygiene, the soldier said in the testimony, according to the Guardian. By Robert Coalson. Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world. Sergey joined the army as a conscript - most Russian men between the ages of 18-27 must complete one year of compulsory military service. Then I got a text message saying he and four other officers had been put in a basement. It is unfair, I am fighting in this war just as the others in Ukraine, risking my life, the soldier said. The official warned that the next phase of the war was likely to be an "attritional conflict" which could last . ", Stas was a serving officer when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. 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 . But there's a more common explanation. Russian . 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 The world mourned a year of death and conflict this week as Friday February 24 marked the first anniversary of Vladimir Putin's order for his aggressive Russian Armed Forces to invade Ukraine.. "He said the [Russian] soldiers had been given no cover; there was no intelligence gathering; no preparation. 2023 BBC. They'd been ordered to advance, but no one knew what lay ahead. We were illegally jailed.. Moscow's war is unjust, but there's no moral obligation for soldiers to refuse to fight. When his son was sent to fight in Ukraine, Sergei begged him not to go. The Institute for the Study of War said on 14 February that the deployment of conscripted servicemen by Russian troops is unlikely to create sufficient offensive potential for a large-scale and rapid mechanised offensive. They don't care about the life of a soldier; whats more important is his position and rank, Kaminsky said. Id rather bury you on the front line, on the line of defense, than give up my position, he said, describing the sentiments of his commanders. He heard of Russian servicemen so inexperienced that they "did not know how to shoot and couldn't tell one end of a mortar from another". Russian military regulations provide some legal justification and procedures for soldiers who disobey orders, according to Sergei Krivenko, a rights activist -- particularly for those who state they are anti-war, or pacifists. 'You're Nobody' Army commanders try to intimidate contract soldiers into staying with their units, according to Russian human rights lawyer Alexei Tabalov. Command post guard duty? "We're on the same wavelength now," Sergei tells me. Ukrainian service members are seen at the site of fighting with a Russian raiding group in Kyiv on the morning of February 26, 2022, according to Ukrainian service personnel at the scene. Russia lacks sufficient ground units with contract soldiers for a sustainable rotation. The soldier is in the unit, hes not running away anywhere. "Those refusing to fight are doing so because they've had more than their fair share of front line action," explains Elena Popova. 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. 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 . I have served for five years in the army. 2023 Cable News Network. A Russian fleet was said to be preparing to shell port city Odessa and land troops. But then someone said they'd take my son to work in the storeroom. After that, I wont look at any new offers.. The bosses response was: We dont care about your problems, go ahead and quit. 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. 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. "Some soldiers, under the . He told me his face was covered in blood," the father said while speaking to the outlet. Ukrainian soldiers move on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. A Warner Bros. But significant damage has been done to that army, which has confronted logistical problems, poor morale and an underestimated Ukrainian resistance. Refusal then would mean much harsher penalties. Sergey says he is traumatised by his experience in Ukraine. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the conflict in Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin boasts of success, though some of his soldiers refuse to fight. 2. Despite speculation beforehand, Putin did not formally declare war on Ukraine during his Victory Day speech on 9 May. The Russian authorities dismiss reports of disillusioned soldiers and detention centres as fake news. My son told me, 'I never thought my own country would treat me this way.' "He told me he had refused to lead his men to a certain death," Oxana tells me. It said that the troops lacked support, while personnel in advanced positions didn't have water. Also, according to Dmytrashkivskyi, the 136th Brigade, which was formed for the war in Chechnya, has arrived in the Vuhledar area. When the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment to Ukraine, fear broke out among the ranks. The refusenik troops add to Russian commanders headaches as they struggle to replenish spent and exhausted units across the roughly 480-kilometer (300-mile) front line stretching from east of Kharkiv in the northeast down to Kherson in south-central Ukraine. There are reports of mobilised Russian troops locked in cellars and basements for refusing to fight in Ukraine. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. But you have until 6 p.m. today. 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. A group of desperate Russian soldiers have issued an open letter by way of video to despotic President Vladimir Putin. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Troops are saying no to officers, knowing that punishment is light while Russia is not technically at war. "It was blown up from a grenade launcher or something else. 17 Russian soldiers were reportedly detained, Russian military unit deployed in the south would not figh, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. 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