Dawn
Active member
CNN —
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a big promise when he launched his war on Ukraine: conscripts would not be involved in combat. But as Moscow struggles to contain Ukrainian advances deeper into its territory, families of young soldiers deployed in the area are raising the alarm about their loved ones.
Messages shared in Russian Telegram channels and other social media over the past few days have revealed how unprepared Moscow was for this kind of attack, including the fact that its military had left poorly trained conscripts in charge of defending the border with Ukraine – the country Russia has been waging war on for more than 10 years.
“When the border was attacked at 3 a.m. by tanks, there were only conscripts defending themselves,” said one such message shared on Telegram by a woman who said she was a mother of a conscript soldier in Kursk, the border region that Ukrainian troops crossed into last week.
“They didn’t see a single soldier, not a single contract soldier — they didn’t see anyone at all. My son called later and said, ‘Mom, we’re in shock;,” the woman, identified only as Olga, said.
CNN has asked Russia’s defense ministry for comment, but has not received an answer.
The deployment of conscripts is a thorny issue in Russia. That’s partly because of Putin’s repeated promises that they would not be sent to fight, but also due to fact that the mothers and wives of soldiers have traditionally been an influential voice inside the country where dissent is now almost nonexistent – and many are expressing their anger.
The independent Russian news outlet Verstka published an interview with Natalia Appel, the grandmother of one Russian conscript who was serving in Kursk and is now considered missing.
She said her grandson Vladislav had been stationed – without any weapons – in a village some 500 meters from the border. “What could the boys do? Go against (the Ukrainian soldiers) with a shovel?,” she was quoted as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a big promise when he launched his war on Ukraine: conscripts would not be involved in combat. But as Moscow struggles to contain Ukrainian advances deeper into its territory, families of young soldiers deployed in the area are raising the alarm about their loved ones.
Messages shared in Russian Telegram channels and other social media over the past few days have revealed how unprepared Moscow was for this kind of attack, including the fact that its military had left poorly trained conscripts in charge of defending the border with Ukraine – the country Russia has been waging war on for more than 10 years.
“When the border was attacked at 3 a.m. by tanks, there were only conscripts defending themselves,” said one such message shared on Telegram by a woman who said she was a mother of a conscript soldier in Kursk, the border region that Ukrainian troops crossed into last week.
“They didn’t see a single soldier, not a single contract soldier — they didn’t see anyone at all. My son called later and said, ‘Mom, we’re in shock;,” the woman, identified only as Olga, said.
CNN has asked Russia’s defense ministry for comment, but has not received an answer.
The deployment of conscripts is a thorny issue in Russia. That’s partly because of Putin’s repeated promises that they would not be sent to fight, but also due to fact that the mothers and wives of soldiers have traditionally been an influential voice inside the country where dissent is now almost nonexistent – and many are expressing their anger.
The independent Russian news outlet Verstka published an interview with Natalia Appel, the grandmother of one Russian conscript who was serving in Kursk and is now considered missing.
She said her grandson Vladislav had been stationed – without any weapons – in a village some 500 meters from the border. “What could the boys do? Go against (the Ukrainian soldiers) with a shovel?,” she was quoted as saying.
