Ukraine war: Russia admits deploying conscripts, some were captured
- Russia admitted deploying conscripts, though stressed it had not been approved by the Kremlin
- Russian forces have become bogged down in parts of Ukraine, yet to take control of key cities
Russia’s defence ministry acknowledged that some conscripts were taking part in the conflict with Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin denied this on various occasions, saying only professional soldiers and officers had been sent in.
The ministry on Wednesday said that some of them, serving in supply units, had been taken prisoner by the Ukrainian army since the fighting began on February 24.
Citing Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the RIA news agency said Putin had ordered military prosecutors to investigate and punish the officials responsible for disobeying his instructions to exclude conscripts from the operation.
Some associations of soldiers’ mothers in Russia had raised concerns about a number of conscripts going incommunicado at the start of what Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, suggesting they could have been sent to fight despite a lack of adequate training.
The Kremlin and military authorities had denied it until now. Last week, Russia’s parliament passed a law imposing a prison term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military.
“Unfortunately, we have discovered several facts of the presence of conscripts in units taking part in the special military operation in Ukraine. Practically all such soldiers have been pulled out to Russia,” the defence ministry said, promising to prevent such situations in the future.