Chronic illnesses and a lack of military experience do not protect Russians from deployment in Ukraine. With sometimes fatal consequences: According to the British secret service, many of the reservists who have been drafted are already dead. The Kremlin is now concerned – because of the protests by the relatives.
According to estimates by British secret services, after the Russian partial mobilization, a large number of conscripted reservists fell in the Ukraine war. Many of those conscripted would be sent on dangerous missions despite chronic health conditions, the British Ministry of Defense said in its daily briefing. There is constant confusion about their respective military experience, training and equipment.
Among other things, in the Donetsk region, around the city of Bakhmut, mobilized reservists had probably fallen in large numbers, the British said. The same applies to soldiers who had to dig trench systems in the Luhansk region while under heavy artillery fire. The Kremlin must be concerned that an increasing number of families of reservists are willing to protest against the conditions in which their relatives are serving and, if necessary, to be arrested because of it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets mothers of soldiers fighting in Ukraine this Friday. According to the Presidential Office in Moscow, the mothers are mothers of both professional soldiers and conscripted reservists. “On the eve of Mother’s Day, which is celebrated in Russia on the last Sunday in November, Vladimir Putin will meet with the mothers of the soldiers taking part in the special military operation.”
This is how the Russian leadership describes the war it started on February 24 against Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have been sent to fight in Ukraine – including some of the more than 300,000 reservists called up as part of the mobilization announced by Putin in September.
According to US estimates, tens of thousands of soldiers were injured or killed on both sides. Ukraine does not disclose its losses. Russia last announced on September 21 that 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed. That number is well below most international estimates, with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense putting the number of Russian soldiers killed at 86,150.
