Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine. R ussian troops have destroyed a concrete dam built in Ukraine's Kherson Region in 2014 to cut off water to Crimea, the RIA news agency quoted the governor of Russian-annexed Crimea Sergei . Russian forces have significantly reduced activity in the Vuhledar area due to the mass refusal of their troops to go on the offensive, spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's Tavriiskyi District forces, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, said on Feb. 27. . Without a formal . They were furious. 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. .. 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 president announced what he called a "partial mobilisation", drafting hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens into the armed forces. 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 . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. The head of Britain's GCHQ spy service said on Wednesday that new intelligence showed some Russian soldiers in Ukraine had refused to carry out orders, sabotaged their own equipment and . Several lawyers and human rights activists the BBC spoke to said they had been regularly offering advice to men trying to avoid returning to Ukraine. Newsweek was unable to independently verify those claims but reached out to Russia's foreign ministry for comment. 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. "So many people don't . They made him lie on the ground and told him to count to ten. They began to stir and offer up some alternatives when people started specifically saying no, he said. But they eventually calmed down because there wasnt much they could do, he said. A Russian court sentenced a 24-year-old professional soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials have said. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. The Insider. He managed to contact his mother, Oxana, back in Russia to tell her what was going on. And this, according to a video on social media app Telegram, has . Read about our approach to external linking. Russian military regulations provide some legal justification and procedures for soldiers who disobey orders, according to Sergei Krivenko, a rights activist -- particularly for those who state they are anti-war, or pacifists. Soldiers with the 127th Regiment of the 1st Army Corps rioted, according to the operational command. Russians across the country rallied against the orderbut police have attempted to disperse anti-war protests as they detained hundreds, including some children. "There are held in pits, tortured and things like that. An investigation by the BBCs Russian service showed that Russias defence ministry filled employment websites with vacancies, offering people with no combat experience opportunities to join the army on lucrative short-term contracts. In all, 78 soldiers including Kaminsky openly challenged his orders, and demanded to be either sent home or reassigned, he said. 2023 BBC. The refusenik troops add to Russian commanders headaches as they struggle to replenish spent and exhausted units across the roughly 480-kilometer (300-mile) front line stretching from east of Kharkiv in the northeast down to Kherson in south-central Ukraine. My contract ends in June. Russian authorities quietly stepped up their efforts to recruit new soldiers as it became clear that a quick victory in Ukraine was unattainable. Im tired. Im supposed to be ready for any situation; this war, this special operation, one soldier wrote. 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. More than 550,000 soldiers from Putin's failing army have been killed or injured so badly in Ukraine that they are no longer able to fight, according to Minusrus. Separately, a military tribunal said it sentenced Kandarov to five years behind bars for evading military service during mobilisation for more than a month. It's not just Ukrainians resisting Vladimir . 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. On 15 February, Ukraines Defence Intelligence reported that Russias losses were the largest since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, said the authorities may be worried that a general mobilisation would antagonise large sections of the population that support the special operation. Andrei, a Russian lieutenant, stopped fighting. 'I Had To Refuse So I Could Stay Alive' Three days of duty? While speaking, he blew cigarette smoke into an officers face, who responded by pushing him away. Eventually his efforts paid off. The private then pushed the officer in the chest. It doesn't make sense. They'd been ordered to advance, but no one knew what lay ahead. Nearly all . Their identities have been protected by the BBC. Russia launched the attack on Ukraine from three sides on February 24. "They are keeping people there because they wanted to leave, refused to fight," the father alleged. The range of experience varies. Born in Russia, he graduated from St. Petersburg State University and also received film and video production training at Bard College in New York. Also, according to Dmytrashkivskyi, the 136th Brigade, which was formed for the war in Chechnya, has arrived in the Vuhledar area. "He told me he had refused to lead his men to a certain death," Oxana tells me. Independent Russian media have also been reporting hundreds of cases of soldiers refusing repeat deployments to Ukraine since the beginning of April. When the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment to Ukraine, fear broke out among the ranks. Troops from the Russian so-called Cossack Detachment are refusing to take part in offensive operations due to Russian forces' heavy losses near Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. He believes his commanders had planned to capture strongholds and key cities very quickly - and had calculated that the Ukrainians would simply surrender. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! In phone conversations with Current Time, he said troops were not granted any leave for 4 1/2 months, even as the losses and casualties for the brigade mounted: Up to half of the brigades personnel -- around 1,000 -- have been either killed or wounded in action, he said. War-weary Russian soldiers have been thrown in jail by their commanders after they refused to fight in Ukraine over the invasions total disregard for human life, a new report claims. Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric', The people who want you to believe the Ukraine war is fake. Daughter of Putin ally dies when . For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. News/Politics 2022-12-22T11:35:49.577Z. 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. Many of the newly mobilised troops were quick to complain that they were being sent to a war zone without sufficient equipment or adequate training. But then someone said they'd take my son to work in the storeroom. I dont regret it one bit. Some Russian troops are refusing to return to fight in Ukraine because of their experiences on the front line at the start of the invasion, according to Russian human rights lawyers and activists. 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. And while the current status of the conflict gives Russian soldiers a legal path to refuse participation, some soldiers have complained that it has also led to them not being adequately cared for. According to the head of his military commandant's office, Kononov was found at his place of residence with a friend after a search. But, after a few months, he made the decision to sign a two-year professional contract which would also give him a salary. He says his convoy - travelling through northern Ukraine - broke up after just four days when a bridge they were about to cross exploded, killing comrades ahead of them. Russian state media aired footage of blitzed buildings and abandoned streets in Bakhmut , the eastern city where Ukrainian forces have been . Because they ignore everything. Sergey was told that returning to the unit was important because simply leaving could be interpreted as desertion, which can result in a two-year sentence in a disciplinary battalion. A Russian serviceman takes part in military exercises outside the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Russian Far East on September 4. A group of Russian soldiers are suing the army after they were fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine. Russian troops also lost territory in the southern Kherson region as well as the Lyman transport hub in eastern Ukraine. The soldier, "not wanting to take part in a . The NY Times published a story on this topic today titled "Russia's New Offensive Sends Conscripts Into the Teeth of Ukraine's Lines." "Every day, sometimes more than once a day, small groups come forward and try to take our positions," said one of the Ukrainian soldiers who participated in the fight, and who asked to be identified only by his nickname, Diesel, for security reasons. Rumours abound of some Russian soldiers defying orders and refusing to cross into Ukraine to fight. 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. Law enforcement located the man, Marsel Kandarov, in September, the statement added. I want to return to my family and not in a casket.. The arrests of the soldiers, whose . A similar account to Dmitris was given to the BBCs Russian service by Sergey Bokov, a 23-year-old soldier who at the end of April decided to leave the army after fighting in Ukraine. Troops had been withdrawn from northern Ukraine and appeared to be regrouping for an assault in the east. "Those refusing to fight are doing so because they've had more than their fair share of front line action," explains Elena Popova. A Russian soldier has been sentenced for refusing to fight in the war in Ukraine. But from our own side.". My daughter was born three months ago. Sergei and Stas are not the real names of this father and son. April 7, 2022. That is not to say that prosecutions are not being attempted. Of the 78 soldiers from Kaminskys unit who have disobeyed orders, some have been ordered held in a makeshift brig for days, he said. 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 . And there is no guarantee that more prosecutions might not emerge in the future. This is not our war. Read also: UK intelligence estimates Russian losses near Vuhledar. He said he would put his refusal in writing. "The commanders' aim is to keep the soldiers down there. The official warned that the next phase of the war was likely to be an "attritional conflict" which could last . "He said it was my choice. But, he had been sufficiently worried about his unit's reaction to his refusal that he decided to seek legal advice. The soldier is in the unit, hes not running away anywhere. What is being given to Ukraine by the UK? 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. For some Russians, refusing to return to the front line may be a moral stand. Second, the conduct of the war by Russian forces violates the most . 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. A month later - 24 February, the day Russia launched its invasion - he was told to cross the border. He refused. I have served for five years in the army. Then I started getting messages from him asking what would happen if he refused to fight.". I have nothing to be ashamed of. ", "My first thoughts were 'Is this really happening to me?'". It wouldn't cost much to equip us. appreciated. 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. It soon became clear that not everyone was onboard with it. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the conflict in Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin boasts of success, though some of his soldiers refuse to fight. Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights. This is not our war. "So off he went to Ukraine. Instead, men in uniform arrived and offered them amnesty if they agreed to fight alongside the Russian army in . "We rushed forward with short overnight stays, without trenches, without reconnaissance. 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. Russian forces were driven out of much of the northeastern Kharkiv region in early September by a Ukrainian counter-offensive that allowed Kyiv to retake thousands of square kilometres of territory. We had no food, no water, he said. April 16, 2022 17:49 GMT. A Russian soldier who refused to fight in the war in Ukraine was allegedly beaten and locked up by his own comrades, according to a report. For the remainder, however, unit commanders ordered them arrested, and held in a makeshift brig in the Luhansk region, according to Kaminsky, where they were being given food only once a day. Although Sergey does not want to return to the front line, he does want to complete his outstanding military service in Russia to avoid any unforeseen consequences. 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. They said no remains had been found. ", "People here don't understand how much danger we're in. In . All his bravado has gone. "Later I was told that the building they were in had been shelled and that all five men were missing. 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. But without conscript battalions, Russia could soon struggle to hold the territory it currently controls in Ukraine, especially as Ukraine receives better equipment from Nato, he said. Just refuse," Sergei recalls telling Stas, who was already an army officer. Sergey says he is traumatised by his experience in Ukraine. Perhaps this is due to the weather conditions, which doesnt allow them to actively use military equipment now, the spokesperson said. 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