Ukrainian service members are seen at the site of fighting with a Russian raiding group in Kyiv on the morning of February 26, 2022, according to Ukrainian service personnel at the scene. All his bravado has gone. Sergey says he is traumatised by his experience in Ukraine. The soldier, along with several others who decided not to take part in the fight anymore, put his refusal in writing. Finance chiefs at a Group of 20 conference in India this weekend issued a joint statement condemning Moscow for its war in Ukraine, with only China and Russia declining to sign. Later that month he received an order to return to Ukraine - but told his commander that he was not prepared to go. They haven't been seen for five months. "Later I was told that the building they were in had been shelled and that all five men were missing. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Hes not refusing to carry out orders, so the article on insubordination or disobeying orders isnt relevant either, because hes not refusing to do so, he said. In another incident where Russian soldiers have been accused of refusing to fight in Ukraine, the country's Operational Command South said Sunday in a Facebook post that a Russian military unit deployed in the south would not fight because of a lack of vital supplies such as water. If no ones willing to take the offers from the brigade commanders, I wont detain you. Another soldier from the 205th Brigade also said commanders gave no preparation to soldiers before the war, and when the units deployed, they were told they were going on exercises. Theyre making everything so easy for you, guys. 'I Had To Refuse So I Could Stay Alive' Ukraine's Operational Command South reported in a . 02:32. July 19, 2022. The attack is doubly unjust. In the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk, on the home base for the 205th Cossack Motorized Rifle Brigade, commanders have erected a wall of shame with the names, ranks, and photographs of some 300 soldiers who have disobeyed orders in the Ukraine war. AP. The man narrated the ordeal his son suffered to the BBC, saying that he had begged his son not to go. Stas was sent back to Russia. Homesick. CNN in Russia 10 videos. A Russian fleet was said to be preparing to shell port city Odessa and land troops. There are reports of mobilised Russian troops locked in cellars and basements for refusing to fight in Ukraine. "They are keeping people there because they wanted to leave, refused to fight," the father alleged. The soldier was a serving officer in the Russian army when Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the occupiers are not able to resolve problems with manning their units. "They beat him and then they took him outside as if they were going to . .. Advertisement .. Russian Soldier Brutally Thrashed For Refusing To Fight In Ukraine War: Report, Arrested AAP Ministers Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain Quit Delhi Cabinet, Nithyananda's 'Republic Of Kailasa' At UN Meet. The range of experience varies. "We do not have any camps or incarceration facilities, or the like [for Russian soldiers]," President Putin insisted earlier this month. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook. Conscripts could fill some of the gaps, but they will be poorly trained. And that means he cant be prosecuted for desertion or going AWOL. "He told me he had refused to lead his men to a certain death," Oxana tells me. Frank Gardner looks at what lies ahead as winter arrives in Ukraine. These people are ready for anything. Russia blaming Ukraine for killing of daughter of Putin ally. The official warned that the next phase of the war was likely to be an "attritional conflict" which could last . People in Kyiv are being warned of street fighting and "subversive groups" on the third day of the Russian invasion, with reports of 198 Ukrainians dead nationwide since troops first crossed the . The soldier is in the unit, hes not running away anywhere. They made him lie on the ground and told him to count to ten. More than 100 Russian national guardsmen have been fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine, court documents show, in what looks to be the clearest indication yet of dissent among some parts of . Vladimir Putins forces launched an invasion of Ukraine in February but never formally declared war, meaning soldiers can be fired but shouldnt be jailed, an attorney who has represented reluctant soldiers told the newspaper. One year from the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, a Catholic priest recounted how a Ukrainian soldier was spared from being killed by . The beach, just north of Odessa in southern Ukraine, was defended with mines and anti-tank hedgehogs. On 15 February, Ukraines Defence Intelligence reported that Russias losses were the largest since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. April 16, 2022 17:49 GMT. As casualties have mounted, so have Ukrainian officials' efforts to appeal directly to the Russian people, saying they are being lied to about a war Moscow still calls a "special operation . Read about our approach to external linking. Earlier Ukraines General Staff reported that invading Russian forces were seeing mass desertion among its troops amid Ukrainian military successes. Pointing to Russias military laws, Benyash said it would be more difficult for soldiers to refuse to fight if Russia were to declare a full-scale war. They were continually shelled, he says, both when moving and when parked overnight. But I was thinking, Im still young; at any moment, a piece of shrapnel, a bullet could fly into my head. They just don't care. 2023 Cable News Network. He is now home in Russia, having taken legal advice to avoid being sent back to the front line. His unit moved on through the Ukrainian countryside, but there was a clear lack of strategy, he says. They'd been ordered to advance, but no one knew what lay ahead. My daughter was born three months ago. Nearly five months into the largest war in Europe since World War II, a growing number of Russian soldiers like Kaminsky are refusing to fight, demanding to return home, or outright not going to Ukraine in the first place. This is not our war. They ignore any requests. A Russian soldier who refused to continue fighting in Ukraine, he was beaten until his face was . Ukrainian media claims a "riot" broke out on the warships, based in nearby Crimea.. At the same time, a number of Russian helicopters and drones were flying over Luzanivka beach, preparing for landing.. The Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported Friday that Russian officials have detained contract soldiers who refuse to fight in special detention camps in occupied Ukraine. Brigade has suffered "extremely high casualties" while fighting in Ukraine. Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova said all of the Ukrainian defenders on Snake Island were killed in an exchange with a Russian warship after they refused to surrender. Soldiers like Sergey - reluctant to return to the front line - are not unusual, according to Ruslan Leviev, the editor of Conflict Intelligence Team, a media project investigating the experiences of the Russian military in Ukraine through confidential interviews and open source material. In Buryatia, where the 11th Brigade is based, dozens of personnel have sought legal assistance from local activists, seeking to break their contracts and get out of service in Ukraine, for various reasons. A Russian soldier has been sentenced for refusing to fight in the war in Ukraine. RUSSIAN soldiers are suffering from low morale with some reportedly refusing to fight the war in Ukraine, according to a member of an elite Russian army unit on the ground. The airline carrier Wizz Air has announced it will . Anybody want it? the commander, a lieutenant colonel identified only by his surname Agafonov, can be heard telling the soldiers. Some Russian soldiers and even whole units are "refusing to fight" in Ukraine, top UK security officials reported today. They said no remains had been found. 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. What is being given to Ukraine by the UK? The whole time, not a single document was provided that would explain our arrest. 2. Under Russian military rules, troops who refuse to fight in Ukraine can face dismissal but cannot be prosecuted, said Mikhail Benyash, a lawyer who has been advising soldiers who choose that option. In another incident, Sergey says he had to overtake comrades trapped inside a burning vehicle in front of him. "Another reason is the foul way they're being treated. There are reports of mobilised Russian troops locked in cellars and basements for refusing to fight in Ukraine. I told him: 'Better to take it. "In a situation when there is shelling or bombs falling, all normal people cannot help but react to it, even on the physiological level. They were furious. All Rights Reserved. They forgot their military oaths, the ceremonial promise, their vows of duty to their Fatherland, the board reads. In July, for example, 17 Russian soldiers were reportedly detained in the country's eastern Luhansk region after they said they would not continue fighting in the war and tried to end their short-term contracts. Id rather bury you on the front line, on the line of defense, than give up my position, he said, describing the sentiments of his commanders. The discontent in Kaminskys 11th Brigade is not an isolated case, and there are indications that Russian commanders are trying different tactics to keep the problem from spiraling out of control: for example, publicly shaming soldiers who are refusing to fight. President Vladimir Putin promised that only professional soldiers would take part in his "special military operation.". Unit commanders then staged an intervention. Anyone? The president announced what he called a "partial mobilisation", drafting hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens into the armed forces. But he stresses that Russian military law does include clauses which allow soldiers to refuse to fight if they don't want to. Not only are they clueless, but they're simply refusing to fight, Scherba, who is currently in western Ukraine, tells co-host Molly-Jong-Fast. While the exact number of soldiers refusing to fight remains unclear, such stories illustrate what military experts and western governments say is one of Russias biggest obstacles in Ukraine: a severe shortage of infantry soldiers. ", Russian mum's fight to save sons from Putin's war, Mariupol: 80 days that left a flourishing city in ruins, Pinned down by Russian fire in key frontline village. I didn't look back.". By Timofei Rozhanskiy. Stas told his father about one particular battle. Initially he "believed it was right" despite his dad trying to convince him not to go to war, the BBC report said. 2d ago. Ukrainian soldiers move on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. "The wall of misunderstanding between us has gone. About 60 Russian paratroopers mutinied and refused to fight in Ukraine, according to Russian press reports related to Putin's government. He said he himself had written some 20 complaints and demands for reassignment, but his superior officers had rejected them -- or even tore the papers up completely. The soldier's testimony said war-weary soldiers were urged by superiors to return to the fight. "I can see that the war continues, it is not going away," he told the BBC. - Ukraine's President . The world mourned a year of death and conflict this week as Friday February 24 marked the first anniversary of Vladimir Putin's order for his aggressive Russian Armed Forces to invade Ukraine.. A video showing two Russian soldiers being arrested after they refused to follow orders to fight in Ukraine has circulated on social media platform Telegram. Separately, a military tribunal in Moscow sentenced a soldier to five years and six months in a penal colony for beating an officer during an argument, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday. Benyash said "hundreds and hundreds" of soldiers had been in touch with his team for advice on how they could avoid being sent to fight. "So off he went to Ukraine. That is not to say that prosecutions are not being attempted. In January, Sergey was sent near the border with Ukraine for what he was told would be military drills. The soldier said he broke his contract and resigned from the brigade before the February 24 invasion, once he realized it was in fact going forward. Back in his living room, Sergei tells me that what happened to Stas in Ukraine has brought them closer together. Artillery sentry duty? Russian resistance is growing against Putin's war. Before joining Current Times Moscow bureau in 2019, Rozhanskiy worked for the independent Russian television channel TV Rain. Russian soldiers are increasingly dying from accidental friendly fire . It's not a war of liberation.' A Russian military unit deployed in Ukraine's south has refused to fight over a lack of vital supplies such as water, Ukraine said Sunday. As of July 20, the fate of the detained soldiers was unknown. We didn't leave anyone in the rear, so if someone decided to come in from behind and hit us there was no protection. He revealed to his father what had happened to him in detention: how a "different group" of Russian soldiers had tried to force him to fight. ", "People here don't understand how much danger we're in. "I think that [so many of] our guys died largely because of this. And this, according to a video on social media app Telegram, has . All asked that their names be withheld for fear of further punishment or retaliation by commanders. I signed a contract. He managed to contact his mother, Oxana, back in Russia to tell her what was going on. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Russia Ukraine War One Year Anniversary Ukrainian troops and their UK military instructors, commemorate lives lost in the Russian invasion of Ukraine during a sunrise commemorative service, at . "I had thought that we were the Russian army, the most super-duper in the world," says the young man bitterly. Its members have been deployed in the Donetsk area and are supposed to take control of the defense line until March 5, he added. I thought a long time about it and came to the decision. There are no legal grounds to start a criminal case if a soldier refuses to fight while on Russian territory.. We had no food, no water, he said. Within the dense smoke caused by the propaganda of one side or the other, the truth is that there does seem to be a good number of Russian soldiers who have refused to fight in Ukraine. At some point, Kaminsky's unit was then transferred to Luhansk, in Ukraines Donbas region. Emilio Morenatti. Russian troops sabotaging their own equipment and refusing orders in Ukraine, UK spy chief says Published Thu, Mar 31 2022 7:30 AM EDT Updated Thu, Mar 31 2022 4:40 PM EDT Chloe Taylor @ChloeTaylor141 Russian . Dmitri's refusal to fight in the war is the latest in a string of reports of Russian soldiers disobeying orders to join the fight. A junior sergeant said he was injured during one of the recent Ukrainian attacks on the Russian border territory where he was stationed. While speaking, he blew cigarette smoke into an officers face, who responded by pushing him away. They began to stir and offer up some alternatives when people started specifically saying no, he said. Leviev says his team estimates a sizeable minority of the Russian contract soldiers sent to Ukraine to fight in the initial invasion refused to go back again. I understand everything, of course. 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