Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ With manpower increasingly in short supply, Russia is reportedly turning instead to womanpower. Women, particularly convicts and migrants – some still only teenagers – are being forced to join the army, in some cases to serve in frontline combat roles. ⬇️

2/ Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that the Russian prison service is putting female convicts under intense pressure, including through starvation, to sign contracts to join the army. Hundreds of women – both Russians and foreigners – are thought to have signed up.

3/ The Uzbek human rights organization Ezgulik reports that it has received letters from the relatives of dozens of Uzbek women who say they are being abused and mistreated to force them to sign military contracts.

4/ According to the mother of one of the women, her daughter and others "were deprived of food for 10 days to 'break' them and make them agree to go. Some girls, fearing being sent to war, attempted suicide."

5/ One 18-year-old Kyrgyz girl who is being held in Omsk on drug smuggling charges says that she was beaten, tortured with a stun gun, and threatened with a 15 year prison sentence unless she agreed to go to Ukraine.

6/ They have had little help from their own governments, which are generally anxious to avoid upsetting relations with Russia. Relatives of the Uzbek women say that the Uzbek government responded to their appeals for help by jailing them for several days.

7/ They were also forced to sign papers stating that they would not give interviews or talk about their situation. In many cases, forcibly conscripted women may face the additional penalty of being jailed for mercenarism by their governments if they return home.

8/ According to Ezgulik, the Uzbeks are "mostly women who worked as couriers or did other menial jobs. According to the information we've received, most of them are in prison because of a setup. Drugs were planted on them."

9/ There have been reports since 2022 of women being recruited for military service, often as cooks, mechanics, nurses, or medics. Some are known to have been sent to fight, and at least two Ukrainian units have published videos of female soldiers being injured by drone attacks.

10/ ASTRA reported in August 2025:

"On 31 July [2025], the 24th Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces published drone footage of an attack on a group of Russian soldiers in the town of Chasiv Yar."

11/ "At least three Russian women have been identified among the assault team. Due to critical losses, the Russian command is throwing even women—likely recruited from prison colonies—into the meat grinder.

12/ "On 3 August, the Spartan Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine posted a video on its Telegram channel of a drone attack on what it claimed was a [Russian] service member. The footage shows a bloodied woman lying on the ground, breathing heavily."

13/ The Spartan Brigade said of the video: "The Russian Federation has begun deploying women to the assault on the Pokrovsk sector. During active combat, we've seen many things – assault troops on crutches, former prisoners, drugged occupiers."

14/ "However, this is the first time a woman has been deployed. Spartan drones don't discriminate: anyone who comes to Ukrainian soil is an enemy and will be destroyed."

15/ Even in non-combat roles, however, women recruited into the Russian army face a difficult time. Female Russian soldiers have complained that they are pressured to become the 'field wives' – essentially sex slaves – of Russian officers.

16/ The situation of forcibly recruited migrant women is likely to be even worse. The director of Tong Jakhoni, a migrant aid organisation, recalls trying to dissuade a female convict from Kazakhstan from signing a military contract:

17/ "I told her, 'You understand that you’re not being recruited as a cook, you’re being recruited as a “regimental prostitute.”' They cook the food there, but that doesn’t rule out the position of “regimental prostitute.” It’s simply a combination of professions.

18/ "She said, 'No, that can’t be. But even if I want to, I'll do it by myself. If I don't want to, it won't happen.'

19/ "I told her, 'Nobody will ask you [for permission] there. You're being recruited into a brigade of 500 people. They'll just pass you around constantly. And you won't have any protection there.'" /end

Sources:
🔹 svoboda.org/a/mama-prosti-…
🔹 azattyqasia.org/a/poedete-sani…
🔹 t.me/astrapress/889…
🔹 t.me/hochu_zhyt/3725