Kathrine Frich
Russia has struggled to maintain troop numbers as the war in Ukraine drags on.
To keep its army supplied with fighters, Moscow has launched widespread recruitment drives across the country.
The Kremlin has recruited prisoners, foreign fighters and even North Korean troops to sustain its campaign. Financial incentives, pressure and aggressive enlistment campaigns have all been used to attract more soldiers to the front.
Now newly captured Russian troops have shared accounts that raise further questions about the conditions faced by soldiers sent to the battlefield.
Captured near Pokrovsk
Four Russian soldiers were recently captured by Ukraine’s Spartan Brigade of the National Guard near the frontline city of Pokrovsk.
According to the Ukrainian outlet Obozrevatel, three of the men had signed contracts with the Russian army only weeks earlier, in January, before being captured the following month.
In a video released by the Ukrainian “I Want to Live” project, the prisoners described how they were sent to a position using coordinates on their phones.
“We were given a route on our phone. We were supposed to walk to the end and find a dugout. We sat there for a month, cold and hungry. We had no sleeping bags. We only had bulletproof vests,” one of the soldiers said.
Harsh frontline conditions
The men said they spent weeks in the dugout enduring freezing temperatures and severe shortages of food and supplies.
According to their account, one soldier suffered frostbite on his toes, but commanders allegedly ignored the situation and ordered them to remain at their position.
Recruitment incentives
Russia has relied heavily on financial incentives to recruit soldiers during the war.
New recruits can reportedly receive a one-time signing bonus of around 1.9 million rubles, along with a monthly salary starting at approximately 230,000 rubles.
In some regions or military units, payments can be even higher.
Sources: Obozrevatel, I Want to Live project, O2.
