A dozen Russian reservists from the Kaliningrad Oblast, a region bordering Poland, rebelled against the decisions of their superiors and refused to take part in the attack on Ukrainian positions in the Donbas; Recently, more and more such cases have been recorded, according to Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty).

The men who joined the army as part of the mobilization in October last year were to serve in their homeland in territorial defense units. They came to the front without proper training and even without weapons. The reservists appealed to the governor of the Kaliningrad region, emphasizing that “they are being led to slaughter” – we read on the Siewier.Realii portal, one of the projects of Radio Svoboda.

“Our command is far from us, we have no means of communication, none of our superiors come to us. (…) They throw us (on the front line) like cannon fodder. (…) Yesterday we were supposed to be sent to attack. This assault was pointless, because (it was intended) to attack an area that had not been conquered for several months,” the mobilized troops allegedly said in the recording.

“I can see my brother Nikolai in this recording. (…) Today he called me and said that the situation with them is terrible. The guys do not know what to do. They have two choices – either go on the attack and die or desertion and go to prison,” said the sister of one of the reservists, quoted by Radio Svoboda.

Opposition Russian media stressed that the rebellion of soldiers from the Kaliningrad region was not the only such story in the last few days. Last week, a similar appeal was made by the inhabitants of the Siberian republic of Tuva, who also ended up in Donbas. Untrained reservists were abandoned at the front without assigning them to any formation. Men were also to be regularly beaten by the military from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.

On September 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin issued a decree on partial mobilization for the war with Ukraine and threatened to “use all means” to defend Russia against the alleged threat from the West. Immediately after the dictator’s decision, there were many reports of organizational chaos during the first stage of captivity. Among them are people with disabilities and without military experience. Numerous cases of alcoholism among the conscripts were recorded.

In September and October 2022, hundreds of thousands of men left Russia or tried to do so, in fear of being sent to the front.