Russian Conscripts Admit Being Sent To Ukraine Without Training, Low Supplies

Military conscripts being sent to the battlefield in Ukraine have little to no training and barely enough supplies, according to new accounts.

Kremlin is deploying conscripts from the Russian-backed Donbas region as the war stretches into its sixth week. However, some were handed antiquated weapons from the 19th century. One student was also given an automatic weapon and tasked with repelling an attack by Ukrainian soldiers despite not having any training on how to handle the gun.

“I don’t even know how to fire an automatic weapon,” one of the conscripts, a student, told Reuters.

The student also said they were forced to drink dirty water from a pond littered with dead frogs due to a lack of supplies.

The conscript and his unit fought Ukrainian soldiers and managed to evade capture. However, he sustained injuries on the battlefield.

Six people from the Donbas region also told Reuters that Russian conscripts were given the dangerous mission of drawing their enemies to fire on them so that other units could identify and bomb Ukrainian positions.

The report follows dozens of intelligence information that suggested the morale within the Russian forces is very low. One intercepted phone call released by Ukraine’s Security Service recorded a Russian soldier telling a family member that they have begun eating dog meat because they were sick of the quality of their years-old ration pack.

A video also circulated on social media showing Russian soldiers using carpets, heavy rugs and twigs to cover their transport vehicles in an attempt to conceal them from tactical drones and anti-armor weapons. The action appeared to show that Russian soldiers lacked modern camouflage netting.

It is unclear how many Russian troops have fled the war. However, a group of 135 Donbas conscripts have laid down their arms and refused to fight in the war, a partner of one of the conscripts told Reuters.

The men were allegedly kept in a basement where their military commanders verbally threatened them. The commanders later allowed the group out of the basement and posted them in abandoned homes.