Drama in Russia - and an ominous sign for the regime: about 400 newly recruited people got off the train that was taking them to Ukraine and refused to continue. The reason: an acute shortage of weapons and defense equipment.
In the videos circulated from the event, the recruits say that the weapons they received are outdated, and that some of them received guns but no cartridges for them and had to search the warehouses alone.
Other recruits said that there were no helmets and protective equipment, and that they had to spend a fortune on food because the command did not provide them with anything.
Russian conscripts refuse to enter Ukraine.
"There are not enough weapons" // From the social networks
"My name is Artyom," one of the recruits tells the camera, "I received an order, I reported and was stationed in the Temanskaya Division, 1st Battalion, 3rd Company. Without signing any forms, they gave me rifles. The rifles are not registered anywhere, there are no stamps. We were not given our salaries. They threw us in the woods, we lived for six days in dugouts that we made ourselves. They didn't give us tents, we lived in houses made of earth and mud that we built. There are 400 of us here and we don't intend to continue. Let them all go to hell. We are waiting for help from the state, if we can trust you."
In another video, the recruits say: "On the first, second and third day they sleep on the ground. 90% of the people who are here are sick... the weapons they gave us from the 1970s, there are patients here with pneumonia. Most of those who are here do not have protective vests or helmets."
This is an unprecedented event, at least in the documentation, since the general conscription began in Russia.
There have already been cases in the past, when units of the "republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk refused to fight and complained about the level of equipment.
However, this is the first time that such a rebellion has occurred within the Russian army itself.
These things reinforce the reports of the disgraceful situation in which the recruits find themselves: most units do not have enough weapons and protective equipment to supply the many who wear the new uniforms.
One of the serious problems is first aid kits, and yet about a week ago, documentation from one of the bases in Russia circulated, in which a deputy base commander implores the enlisted men to get tampons and sanitary napkins from their wives, partners, or sisters because there are none in the army.
Yesterday (Wednesday), Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported that Russia had managed to recruit about 200,000 men, but Kiev estimates that the actual number is lower.
The advisor to the Zelensky headquarters, Oleksiy Arstovich, estimated that it was about 92 thousand, and it is doubtful that most of them even have equipment.
It is estimated that the first wave of recruits has been sent and more will be sent to fill the gaps in the units that suffered losses, in order to stop the Ukrainian advance.
However, how will the recruits who lack weapons, defense equipment, food, combat training and motivation do this - that is a big question.
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