Russian Conscripts' Miserable End... Testimonies Reveal "Death or Capture Within 72 Hours"

Military Training and Equipment Both Lacking... Forced Conscription of Civilians Also Affects
"Number of Surrenders Increasing, Winter a Critical Blow to Russian Forces"

Russian conscripts are walking to a bus near the conscription office in Moscow, Russia, on the 12th. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Testimonies have emerged that the number of conscripted Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine who are captured or killed within just 72 hours of being deployed to the front lines is increasing.

On the 26th (local time), Radio New Zealand (RNZ) broadcast an interview with a New Zealand veteran belonging to a Ukrainian frontline reconnaissance unit, revealing that newly conscripted Russian soldiers lacked basic military skills, including not receiving any military training. He is currently active in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine.

The former soldier, who wished to remain anonymous, explained, "Imagine the Russian regular troops who have been on the front lines for eight months with almost no rotation of personnel, expecting an easy victory," adding, "Comrades are dying beside them, they are starving and shivering from the cold, scraping together clothing, yet the military does not provide them with thermal gear." He continued, "Now even civilians unwilling to fight have been forcibly conscripted," and "Their equipment is worse than that of the regular army."

He also reported that some of the captured Russian soldiers were carrying rusty Soviet weapons from the 1970s. He said, "One day, two retreating Russian soldiers could not endure the cold and returned to look for sleeping bags but were immediately arrested," explaining, "They eventually got sleeping bags?because they were imprisoned."

He stated that Russian troop morale is steadily declining and that the number of Russian soldiers surrendering is increasing. He also predicted, "Winter will be a fatal blow to them, not to us."

Currently, the Russian military is struggling with supply shortages. According to the British daily The Telegraph on the 22nd, new Russian recruits are frustrated with poor equipment and supply conditions. Recently, posts on social media have shared that Russian recruits received survival game masks and children's gloves instead of proper gear, and were issued bulletproof vests with plastic plates instead of ballistic plates. There are also testimonies that they dug trenches bare-handed in subzero temperatures due to the lack of shovels.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.