The wives and mothers of 21 Russian soldiers say the men are being held captive in Zavitne Bazhannia, a village in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, over their refusal to participate in the war. Newsweek () – Dozens of mobilized Russian soldiers who have refused to fight in Ukraine are being locked up and threatened with execution, family members say. While the Kremlin denied any knowledge of the incident, Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin wrote approvingly about the killing in a statement.ĭozens of Russian deserters threatened with execution, families say Russian soldiers are used by Putin as “cannon fodder” and special forces called “barrier troops” or “blocking units” are deployed at the back of the fighters to shoot retreating soldiers, who are unwilling to fight “due to low morale.”Īround mid-November, a graphic video appeared online to show the brutal execution of a Russian soldier who defected from the pro-Russian mercenary army “Wagner Group”, but was later recaptured. Russian soldiers surrender to Ukrainian forces as Kherson fighting rages on This information is available in Russian on the “ I want to live” Telegram channel.Ī video shows them how such operations happen: HRWF – The Ukrainian authorities have created a specific application on Telegram to give the possibility to Russian soldiers to surrender safely and save their lives.

“I want to live”: Russian soldiers surrender through Telegram channel to save their lives More than 3,500 Russian soldiers have called Ukraine’s surrender helpline, an official sa id in November

Russian telegram