A Russian officer fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine released a defiant video saying that he and what was left of his decimated platoon refused to obey orders after being forced to attack settlements without any training.
The recording, which was circulated on Telegram channels this week, shed light on the alleged chaos within the ranks of Vladimir Putin’s conscripts mobilized in Ukraine.
In the short video, a man in a baseball cap who introduces himself as a senior lieutenant stands in front of a group of about 10 soldiers gathered in a bare room with a single light bulb hanging above him and reads a statement from a sheet of paper.
“We were driven to attack villages without any training,” he says, adding that conscripts in their 40s were forced to fight “with no reconnaissance, no communications, no reconnaissance, no anything.”
The Post was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the video and it is unclear where and when it was shot.
According to the senior lieutenant, his platoon has no ties to the eastern Ukraine area or maps to help the soldiers find their way.
“Generally speaking, it’s a complete bull—t,” the man says in frustration. “Staff are dying. This is all that is left of my platoon, of the whole company.”
The military spokesman for the group explained that he had been mobilized for the territorial defense brigade in the Russian town of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border.
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“I refuse to carry out the stated objectives due to the fact that the platoon personnel suffered losses within three days because the personnel were not properly trained and sent to the front line,” he proclaims.
The officer objected to the fact that upon their arrival in Dontesk last week, they were ordered without warning to join an assault brigade in the militia of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.
“We were transferred here overnight, driven for 14 hours without any orders, explanations… or reconnaissance expected from the officers,” he says. “Nothing was done to us.”
According to the soldier, the documents and military identification of the members of the platoon were seized by “God knows who, half civilian, half military”, probably belonging to the DPR militia.
The officer stressed that he and his men are prepared to carry out targets “only as part of the Russian armed forces” and not as the militia of the newly annexed territory.
Several independent Russian news outlets have reported on the videowhich has garnered hundreds of thousands of views since Wednesday.
Later, Belgorod governor Viachesalv Gladkov commented on the recording on his Telegram page, saying that the soldiers in the footage had been called up in the fall as part of Putin’s partial mobilization effort and had undergone training in the city of Kursk. reported the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Gladkov said he and other top officials from the region have met with the soldiers’ concerned relatives to try to “reassure them”. The governor also said he has made inquiries with the Defense Department and the military prosecutor’s office about the platoon’s status.
“I will send my representative to our boys [in Donetsk] today,’ Gladkov swore.
