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How Russia Coerces Injured Troops Into Returning to War in Ukraine
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Wounded Russian servicemen in Crimea and Donetsk are being coerced into signing new contracts and sent back into assault units instead of being demobilized, the partisan movement ATESH reported on December 25.
According to ATESH, its agents uncovered a systematic practice inside military hospitals in Crimea and Donetsk involving Russian commanders and corrupt military medical commissions. Rather than being discharged on medical grounds, wounded soldiers are reportedly forced back to the front line, most often to the Zaporizhzhia direction.
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“A similar incident occurred recently in Simferopol. A Russian serviceman with multiple shrapnel wounds, a severe concussion, and hearing loss was confronted with an ultimatum directly in the hospital instead of being sent for rehabilitation,” ATESH reported.
However, instead of rehabilitation, command staff allegedly presented him with a choice: sign a new contract “voluntarily,” which was portrayed as a slim chance to avoid the front line, or be immediately transferred to an assault unit and deployed to the “zero line” without any recovery period.
Under intense psychological pressure and threats of being sent into combat with a high risk of death, the serviceman was forced to sign the contract.
“This confirms that, for the system, a soldier’s fitness for service is irrelevant, with the primary priority being the filling of reporting and personnel records,” the movemnet said.
Earlier, it was reported that Russian officers are issuing commands while heavily drunk and detached from the situation on the ground, contributing to the most severe casualties the unit has sustained since the start of the fighting.
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