Within a week, Andrei, who had no military experience, was on the front lines fighting alongside Russian troops in Moscow’s confrontation with Ukraine. “I do not know where he is now,” said Elena. “I do not even know the unit number. He rarely called. . . then there was no contact with him anymore “. Russia has not introduced a mass mobilization of men of war age since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 because it has not formally declared war on its neighbor. However, the recruitment took place in the breakaway pockets of Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the southeastern Donbas region, from the beginning of what Moscow calls a “special military operation.” Previously, only a few men were called up for military service, with many being exempted. Russia seems to be relying heavily on conscripts from breakaway regions in the absence of its own full mobilization, some analysts say. In recent weeks, separatist authorities have reportedly stepped up the call, with residents saying men with no military experience are regularly removed from the streets and sent immediately to the front. The escalation and rising death toll have begun to spark anger even among pro-Russian communities. Many videos posted on the Internet allegedly show the wives of Donetsk and Luhansk conscripts asking for help for their husbands and asking why men without a military background are being sent to fight. Russian troops prepare for operation in Donetsk. Their number is boosted by local conscripts who reportedly have no combat experience © AP “They were not conscripts, so how did they get there?” A woman was asked to ask an official who had been stopped by a group of women on the street. “There was not even a medical examination, they were transported sick!” says another. At least one chat group in the Telegram messaging app is sharing tips on the location of recruiting patrols so people can avoid them. Men advise each other to stay home as long as possible. A mother living in Donetsk said in an interview that her son had initially avoided enlistment because he had previously completed his military service. “He was not the guy who was fighting,” he said, recalling telling her, “Mom, I just can’t kill anyone.” But in April, he said, they took him off the street, put him on a bus and took him to the military office, just in time to call his mother and ask her to bring him some personal items. “They took him to the conscription office, changed his clothes, changed his shoes and took him to the base and then to the battles,” he said. He was killed a few weeks later. “I think he probably did not kill anyone in the end,” he added. “He missed”. The center of the war has shifted to eastern Donbass since Russia withdrew its forces from northern Ukraine and Kyiv in April to focus on strengthening its holdings in the southeast. The separatist forces have been greatly developed.

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Russia appears to be looking to Donetsk and Luhansk conscripts to meet some of its staff constraints as it has not mobilized its own population, said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the US-based Institute for Foreign Policy Research. Russian President Vladimir Putin has portrayed the current phase of the war as a struggle for the “liberation” of Donbass from the “Kiev regime”. However, the high level of casualties between the fighters from Luhansk and Donetsk could raise questions about Moscow’s motives, Lee said. “How much was that for Donbas’s care and how much it was, in fact, a case of placement [the breakaway regions] with a high risk of achieving a goal of Russian foreign policy, to their detriment? ». he said. At least two videos have appeared showing separatist military units addressing their leaders and refusing to fight. The videos show apparent commanders blaming their reluctance on the fact that many troops are inexperienced, although the Financial Times has not been able to confirm the video’s accuracy. “More than 90 percent of the people here have not fought at all. . . “It was the first time they had seen a Kalashnikov,” said one prominent Donetsk unit chief. “For three months we lived like vagrants with machine guns, and now they want to throw us back in the meat grinder,” he said, insisting that he and more than 200 other soldiers refused to “go to the slaughter.”

Russia has sought to minimize the volume of public information about casualties among its own troops in Ukraine. Regional media had previously published details of the victims from their communities. But last week a Russian court ruled that revealing any information about the country’s military casualties, including the names and personal details of soldiers killed in the battle, would be considered illegal. The Russian Defense Ministry last announced the death toll in late March. The official figure was 1,351 at the time, but local activists, who said they had kept an independent account, said the actual number was at least two and a half times higher. The UK Ministry of Defense reported the current number up to 20,000. The death toll from Donetsk and Luhansk remains unclear. “To me, the fate of these people is the most tragic,” said one activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “No one remembers them [officially] at all, no one counts them “. In several social media groups in Donetsk and Luhansk, relatives were led to search for information about the missing themselves, sharing photos and details of identities. From time to time, handwritten lists of wounded soldiers are posted in hospitals. The posts contain scary comments. “He is dead … I served with him,” a man wrote under a photo of a missing Donetsk fighter posted by his sister. “Everyone is invited, we will be left without a future,” someone wrote under the memorial post about a former karate teacher who was killed last week. “Teachers are dying, sports coaches are dying, tractor drivers,” wrote another. “What will our future be like?” Rest in Peace.” Video: Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “No one is humiliating Ukraine. they kill us “