A Warner Bros. Heavy street fighting against Russian troops was underway in Kyiv as officials urged locals to take immediate shelter. Just refuse," Sergei recalls telling Stas, who was already an army officer. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, When disinfo specialists lie, Gray Ladys DeSantis frustration and other commentary, Putins former spin doctor-turned-critic dead, Ukraines northeastern front could decide new battle lines, Biden needs to step up military aid for Ukraine fast. Putin needs to make a decision regarding mobilisation in the coming weeks, said Rob Lee, a military analyst. In particular, conscripts are starting to cancel their contracts. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the conflictin Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin touts success, yet some ofhis soldiers refuse to fight. Russians across the country rallied against the orderbut police have attempted to disperse anti-war protests as they detained hundreds, including some children. Some Russian soldiers and even whole units are "refusing to fight" in Ukraine, top UK security officials reported today. 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. "So many people don't . Russian resistance is growing against Putin's war. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. The soldier said he broke his contract and resigned from the brigade before the February 24 invasion, once he realized it was in fact going forward. And while the current status of the conflict gives Russian soldiers a legal path to refuse participation, some soldiers have complained that it has also led to them not being adequately cared for. As casualties have mounted, so have Ukrainian officials' efforts to appeal directly to the Russian people, saying they are being lied to about a war Moscow still calls a "special operation . Second, the conduct of the war by Russian forces violates the most . The BBC has been speaking to one such soldier. Youre just a soldier for them; youre nobody.. Along with eight others, Dmitri told his commanders that he refused to rejoin the invasion. I thought a long time about it and came to the decision. Newsweek was unable to independently verify those claims but reached out to Russia's foreign ministry for comment. In a rare public spat involving the Kremlin, 25 National Guard 'refuseniks' defied their . Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has supported its eastern neighbour in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.Before the start of the offensive, Belarus allowed the Russian Armed Forces to perform weeks-long military drills on its territory; however, the Russian troops did not exit the country after they were supposed to finish. 2. Source: Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza; united press office of the courts of the Republic of Bashkortostan on Telegram Details: According to court materials, Corporal Marcel Kandarov has been charged with evading military service for more than one month . 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. All his bravado has gone. 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. 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. I told him that he was a zombie. Refusal then would mean much harsher penalties. In conversations with Current Time via the Russian social media giant VK, several soldiers from the brigade disputed the circumstances behind their inclusion on the wall of shame. Produced by Will Vernon. President Vladimir Putin had on September 21 ordered a mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of Russians to fight in Ukraine, sparking protests and an exodus of eligible men from the country. 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. Law enforcement located the man, Marsel Kandarov, in September, the statement added. A Russian soldier's service card was stamped "traitor" for refusing . "They beat him and then they took him outside as if they were going to . The man narrated the ordeal his son suffered to the BBC, saying that he had begged his son not to go. The soldier, along with several others who decided not to take part in the fight anymore, put his refusal in writing. And this, according to a video on social media app Telegram, has . A Russian court sentenced a 24-year-old professional soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials have said. "They are keeping people there because they wanted to leave, refused to fight," the father alleged. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Back in his living room, Sergei tells me that what happened to Stas in Ukraine has brought them closer together. That's what people who have come from there say.". By The Associated Press August 11, 2022. 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. Russian paratroopers. The servicemen were reportedly removed from their unit as punishment. Russian authorities quietly stepped up their efforts to recruit new soldiers as it became clear that a quick victory in Ukraine was unattainable. But that means that - while his letter of refusal to fight was accepted - there are no guarantees he won't be sent back to Ukraine during his service period. 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. There are no legal grounds to start a criminal case if a soldier refuses to fight while on Russian territory.. Other units include troops from private military companies like Vagner, or specialized, semiautonomous units overseen by Chechnyas strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. "As an officer he understood that if they went ahead, they wouldn't get out alive. Alexander Avilov / Moskva News Agency. Sergey was told that returning to the unit was important because simply leaving could be interpreted as desertion, which can result in a two-year sentence in a disciplinary battalion. Such an action would be "premature" without having assessed the harm to the military service he was involved in, the prosecutor said. The contract soldier was subsequently sentenced on July 21 to restriction in military service for one year, with a 10 percent deduction from his monetary allowance going to the state. It's not a war of liberation.' 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 . The way my son was treated wasn't only illegal, it was inhuman.". Ukrainians have been asked to avoid going near windows or on balconies and be . In his conversations with Current Time, Kaminsky lamented what he described as commanders callous disregard for the wellbeing of their troops. "Another reason is the foul way they're being treated. One year from the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, a Catholic priest recounted how a Ukrainian soldier was spared from being killed by . CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the conflict in Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin touts success, yet some of his soldiers refuse to fight. Almost all his comrades were under the age of 25. I understand everything, of course. 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 have nothing to be ashamed of. 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. I didnt think I would quit, but it happened because of my wifes difficult pregnancy, when I asked for a delay until after she gave birth, a third soldier told Current Time in a VK message. Reports of Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine are also mounting. Earlier Ukraines General Staff reported that invading Russian forces were seeing mass desertion among its troops amid Ukrainian military successes. Sergei made several trips to the front line to try to secure his son's release. A Russian fleet was said to be preparing to shell port city Odessa and land troops. "So off he went to Ukraine. "I'm morally exhausted. "It was blown up from a grenade launcher or something else. Did you encounter any technical issues? The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. More than 26,000 Russian military personnel have been killed in . Army commanders try to intimidate contract soldiers into staying with their units, according to Russian human rights lawyer Alexei Tabalov. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 2023 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved. It is, first of all, a classic example of military aggression; it is a war without a just cause. "The wall of misunderstanding between us has gone. 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. Approximately 60 paratroopers from Russia's Pskov region have refused to be deployed to Ukraine, newspaper Pskovskaya . Troops are saying no to officers, knowing that punishment is light while Russia is not technically at war. But from our own side.". They would be looking at time in prison.. My contract ends in June. "There are held in pits, tortured and things like that. News/Politics 2022-12-22T11:35:49.577Z. It soon became clear that not everyone was onboard with it. "He said the [Russian] soldiers had been given no cover; there was no intelligence gathering; no preparation. Anybody want it? the commander, a lieutenant colonel identified only by his surname Agafonov, can be heard telling the soldiers. "I can see that the war continues, it is not going away," he told the BBC. - Ukraine's President . A junior sergeant said he was injured during one of the recent Ukrainian attacks on the Russian border territory where he was stationed. In phone conversations with Current Time, he said troops were not granted any leave for 4 1/2 months, even as the losses and casualties for the brigade mounted: Up to half of the brigades personnel -- around 1,000 -- have been either killed or wounded in action, he said. If I dont get the compensation that I am entitled to soon, I will go public and make a major issue of it., Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Russia has suffered a series of military setbacks in the Ukraine war that triggered criticism of the army's leadership. I didn't look back.". "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. For that they sent my son to a detention centre. Soldiers from Ukraines Special Operations Forces and the 72nd Separate Mechanised Brigade destroyed pieces of Russian equipment and captured two Russian servicemen near Vuhledar on 23 February. Images by Anton Chicherov. But I was thinking, Im still young; at any moment, a piece of shrapnel, a bullet could fly into my head. 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. Russia struggles to replenish its troops in Ukraine. Lori Lightfoot becomes the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose re-election, Fiery Greece train collision kills 32, injures at least 85, A condition called POTS rose after covid, but patients can't find care, Drones fly deep inside Russia; Putin orders border tightened, Rep. Lauren Boebert Gets Absolutely Schooled By Jamie Raskin Using Trump's Own Words, Russian invaders refusing to go on offensive in Vuhledar area en masse, Life Cover+ Multiple Benefits in one plan, Russia redeploys unit of brigade created for war against Chechen Republic of Ichkeria near Vuhledar, Bedraggled Troops Declare Glory to Russia in Saddest Video Ever, Ukrainian Forces Demobilize Russian Tanks Near Frontline Town. A group of Russian soldiers are suing the army after they were fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine. We've changed them to protect their identities. Putin's army continues its full-scale aggression in Ukraine. "You've got relatives there. Not from the opposing side. As of July 20, the fate of the detained soldiers was unknown. It said that the troops lacked support, while personnel in advanced positions didn't have water. 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. ", "My first thoughts were 'Is this really happening to me?'". Commanders try to threaten their soldiers with prison time if they dissent, but we tell the soldiers that they can simply say no, Benyash said, adding that he was not aware of any criminal cases against soldiers who refused to fight. "Then they took him into a room and told him: 'You're coming with us, otherwise we'll kill you.' UK intelligence estimates Russian losses near Vuhledar, Russians pushing for breakthrough near Vuhledar, but unlikely to succeed, says UK intelligence, Lori Lightfoot becomes the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose re-election, Fiery Greece train collision kills 32, injures at least 85, A condition called POTS rose after covid, but patients can't find care, Drones fly deep inside Russia; Putin orders border tightened, Rep. Lauren Boebert Gets Absolutely Schooled By Jamie Raskin Using Trump's Own Words, Russia redeploys unit of brigade created for war against Chechen Republic of Ichkeria near Vuhledar, Ukrainian Forces Demobilize Russian Tanks Near Frontline Town, Irkutsk conscripts appeal to Putin for third time for being sent to war without training, Multiple Russian Armored Vehicles Destroyed in Single Battle, Ukrainian Brigade Says, The mysterious death of Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrovs favorite fighter. ; refuseniks & # x27 ; refuseniks & # x27 ; s army its... 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