Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ In a video and interview, relatives of mobilised Russians fighting in southern Ukraine say that the Russian military "is not an army, but a prison" where men are sent to "die like cattle under shelling." The relatives are getting neither pay nor aid from the government. ⬇️

2/ Men from Russia's 394th regiment have appeared previously in a video (translated here by @wartranslated). They say they lack basic supplies, haven't been rested or rotated in 10 months, and haven't been paid since January.

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1677273690608746498

3/ Their relatives have also recorded a video in which they speak about the men's problems. They appeal to Putin and the army leadership to ensure that their men are properly supplied and "not being sent into horrible conditions."

4/ Tatyana from Barnaul says that her son was mobilised in September, was sent to Ukraine in December and has been fighting since April in the Zaporizhzhia region. Her son's unit was recently pushed out of the village of Novodarivka but were already in a desperate situation.

5/ "Since the beginning of June they were left there near Novodarivka all alone – only one company commander for more than a hundred men! All the rest – officers – are sitting in the headquarters, they go to the front line once a fortnight at most.

6/ "By the 20th of June they had run out of shells and ammunition. They didn't even have any rations left. Why sit there with automatic rifles, which they can at best use as sticks? Of course, they started to retreat!

7/ "Only then did the officers start to move – but instead of helping them, they threatened them with jail. In reply, they said all sorts of rubbish: "Why are you rebelling? You have everything!"

8/ "The men said, "Where's the ammunition? What can I use to load my rifles with?" The officers shouted back: "Stop the riot!" What riot? They just refuse to die like cattle under shelling."

9/ The relatives confirm the men's claims that they have not been paid since January and speak about the effect it's having on them. One wife, Elena, says: "I have two small children, I'm on maternity leave and I can't go to work.

10/ "We have been living on my father's pension for six months, and the vegetable garden at the dacha saves us, because my husband's salary stopped coming at the beginning of the year. During this time, we have spent everything he has transferred since October."

11/ "They took our husbands, made promises, and now they have essentially thrown us out on our own, so we are left to fend for ourselves.

12/ "My friend from Buryatia, near Ulan-Ude, says she was promised firewood since September – she never received anything, she begged all winter and spring from neighbours.

13/ "And if you try to assert your rights, they immediately start threatening you with being sent to a prison colony."

At one point, she says, the men caught a visiting officer and effectively held him prisoner, which led to a firefight between the officers and their men.

14/ "[The men] said, "Well, since we have enough supplies, you'll stay with us for the night when the shelling happens." So he started shooting and the rest of the commanders went away shooting from their own [vehicles]. Is that normal? It's not an army, it's a prison."

15/ The relatives say that the wounded – even the lightly injured – are simply abandoned on the battlefield due to a complete absence of medical evacuations and a lack of armoured vehicles. The bodies of the dead are not being retrieved or returned to their relatives. /end

Source:
sibreal.org/a/mobilizovann…