Regiment of untrained mobilised Russians killed near Donetsk

Sibir Realii [Siberia Realities] project reports that unprepared draftees who served in the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 1439th Regiment (stationed in Russia's Irkutsk Oblast) were sent to storm the city of Avdiivka, not far from Donetsk; almost all of them were killed.

Source: Radio Liberty’s project Sibir.Realii

Details: On 3 March, the relatives of the two mobilised servicemen told journalists that the whole regiment was virtually destroyed: several people were injured, and the rest were killed but were considered missing.

"My [husband] called – [he suffered] a shrapnel wound, [he is] in hospital. He says nothing left of the regiment. It is known only about two wounded, others either killed or left there in severe condition. He will only be given a week [to rest]! And then he will be thrown to the frontline again," the wife of one of the mobilised soldiers said.

Irkutsk’s officials went to the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine, where the mobilised soldiers complained about their command. They intend to "set contacts" with the regiment.

On 27 February, the mobilised ones sent their third appeal to Vladimir Putin with a complaint about the command of the so-called "DPR" [the non-recognised "Donetsk People's Republic"].

According to soldiers from the "Sloviansk Brigade" of the occupation troops, they are being sent to assault without qny intelligence, communication, and  artillery support, and they are threatened with persecution for desertion after complaints that they "cannot execute the order". 

The appeal gives an example of threats: "You will be prosecuted for desertion; you will have trouble with the commandant and military police; we will divide you by pairs and send you on the offensive, from which you will not return."

Sibir.Realii notes that the mobilised men have no military training: they are builders, drivers and managers. Many of them are over 40 years of age with chronic diseases.

The mobilised men claim that the command  only takes the "DPR" soldiers with slight injuries out of the battlefield. Those seriously wounded and killed are left in their positions because they are "afraid to lose their equipment". The killed Russians are considered missing, and the wounded are still being evacuated once a day on stretchers.

Journalists add that the military police detained the deputy commander of the political department  who goes by the alias of Skala [Rock]; he tried to explain to his command that "yesterday's drivers, welders, furniture makers could not belong to the elite assault unit".

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