Relatives Of Russian Soldiers Slam Putin For Sending Conscripts 'To The Slaughter'

Russia reported making gains in the battle for the industrial city of Bakhmut, which has dragged on for months — AFP

KEY POINTS

The women said the soldiers were promised two weeks of training
The women also said Putin promised the soldiers would only work exclusively in the rear
Russia has lost over 159,000 military personnel in the war in Ukraine since February last year

A group of wives and mothers of Russian soldiers recently slammed President Vladimir Putin for sending their loved ones "to the slaughter" in the war in Ukraine.

The women said the conscripts were "forced to join assault groups" at the beginning of March despite not being given adequate ammunition or supplies and just undergoing four days of training since they were called up as part of Putin's partial mobilization in September last year. The women said their loved ones were initially promised two weeks of training.

"My husband... is located on the line of contact with the enemy. Our mobilized [men] are being sent like lambs to the slaughter to storm fortified areas – five at a time, against 100 heavily armed enemy men," one woman said in a video shared by the independent Russian Telegram channel SOTA, adding that Putin promised the soldiers they would only work exclusively in the rear.

"They are prepared to serve their homeland but according to the specialization they've trained for, not as stormtroopers. We ask that you pull back our guys from the line of contact and provide the artillerymen with artillery and ammunition," she continued.

In addition, the video also showed the women holding a sign in Russian that read: "580 Separate Howitzer Artillery Division, March, 11, 2023."

The International Business Times could not independently verify the claims made in the video.

Last year, Putin ordered a partial mobilization that would call up 300,000 Russian reservists in hopes of bolstering his forces in Ukraine. The order sparked rare protests across the country and led to about 1,200 arrests, per the Associated Press. The order also led to an exodus of Russians to Dubai, Istanbul, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey in an effort to avoid drafting.

Russia launched its unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2023. Since then, Moscow's army lost a total of 159,090 military personnel in combat, according to estimates from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The figure includes 1,090 soldiers who were killed over the past day.