After completing short military training, the Ukrainians from the occupied parts of the Kherson Oblast are being sent by Russia to the front line to fight against their own fellow citizens. At this point, Russia may have drafted around 5,000 men from this territory into compulsory military service in the Russian army, says Serhii Danylov, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, UkrInform reports.
According to him, it is specifically conscripts from the occupied territories, unlike conscripts from Russia itself, whom the Russians have decided to turn into “cannon fodder.”
“I have information that the men drafted from the occupied territories of Kherson, after completing basic military training, are being sent essentially to the front line despite promises that they would not be involved in fighting,” Danylov says.
A contract for death: how the occupiers throw locals onto the front line
The First Deputy Head of the Kherson Regional Council, Yury Sobolevskyi, confirms that there are at least some cases in which conscripts from the occupied territories, like contract soldiers, are being deployed in combat operations.
“It’s difficult to speak about numbers right now. But this trend is indeed real. So I can agree with what Serhii Danylov says about the situation,” Sobolevskyi says.
At the same time, he notes, the Russians are also trying to replenish their armed forces with contract soldiers through various forms of “motivation.”
Training that leads only to the meat grinder
“In particular, a significant portion consists of people forced to sign contracts under coercion, while criminal cases are fabricated against them, and they are intimidated,” the Kherson Regional Council's first deputy head adds.
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Contract soldiers are assured that they will not be required to participate in combat.
In reality, Sobolevskyi says, after brief training, the occupiers send contract soldiers from the occupied territories straight into the "meat grinder" on the front line.
