Images revealed by the independent Russian news site “Mediazona” and relayed by CNN are cold in the back. We see Russian soldiers speaking directly to Vladimir Putin. These soldiers, from the 1439 regiment which comes from Irkutsk (Siberia), are engaged in the Ukrainian conflict in the Donbass region.
In the video posted on Saturday, the group claims to have received “illegal and criminal orders” of their command and to have been sent”to the slaughterhouse”because without any combat support.
”We are the mobilized from the Irkutsk region, regiment 1439, who were sent to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic on December 31, 2022”comments a soldier, before continuing: “We ask for help to deal with the illegal and criminal orders of our command… The Territorial Defense soldiers were turned into assault units in a single day and were sent to storm the Avdiivka stronghold, without any artillery support”.
‘They don’t care regarding our lives’: Video shows Russian soldiers ready to leave army to join Wagner
Avdiivka is a hotly contested town close to the front lines in Donetsk.
The hooded soldier continues: “The commanders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic are firing machine guns and infantry fighting vehicles at our mobilized soldiers because they refuse to join the assault units. There is no point in appealing to the local military prosecutor’s office since they are in cahoots with the commanders… At this point, this battalion has been almost completely destroyed.”
As the video comes to an end, the soldier says the unit is in a “desperate position” because the “commanders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic do not care” of their life.
War in Ukraine: “In Bakhmout, we will probably have to retreat”
Note that last January, a similar video had already been released. In these, soldiers from the same regiment were already complaining of ill-treatment.
”Mediazona” also published text messages that soldiers sent to their families at the front. “They are shooting at us from their combat vehicles to force us to attack the Ukrainian lines. Yesterday they fired on a house where mobilized Russian soldiers were hiding, who refused to launch the attack”declares a soldier in particular.
