1/ Dozens of mobilised Russians are being detained illegally in a network of improvised prisons in occupied territories of Ukraine, where they are being abused and living in terrible conditions, according to an investigation by ASTRA. ⬇️
2/ Reports from several outlets over the last few weeks have indicated that the Russian army is dealing harshly with soldiers who refuse to fight, by imprisoning, starving, beating and pressuring them until they agree to return to the front lines.
3/ This is not a new practice. Reports from before the start of mobilisation stated that some professional contract soldiers were being treated similarly, despite being legally permitted at the time to resign from their contracts. But it's clearly been stepped up now.
4/ ASTRA was able to identify 7 prisons in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts (there are probably more), using reports from relatives and in some cases from imprisoned soldiers themselves. The soldiers, who are mostly being held in basements, have managed to send photos and videos.
5/ Up to 60 prisoners have been identified by ASTRA. They are being held in locations that include:
6/ 🔺 A basement in Zaitseve in Luhansk oblast, where 43 men were being held.
Before being deployed they were given minimal training, consisting of shooting a few times, digging trenches and basic first aid.
Before being deployed they were given minimal training, consisting of shooting a few times, digging trenches and basic first aid.
7/ They were sent to the front line around 20 October, likely in the Svatove-Kreminna area. At the front, they were abandoned by their officers and had no logistical support at all.
8/ They had no means of communication and received no supplies of food, water or ammunition The son of one of the men says they had no food and water and "ate what they could find, drank from a puddle! Nothing was brought to them, they were simply sent to their deaths."
9/ They were heavily shelled by the Ukrainians, causing deaths and injuries. The lightly armed Russians didn't see a single Ukrainian soldier but couldn't have fought back anyway as their meagre supply of ammunition soon ran out.
10/ After days of shelling and with no food, they left the front on 28 October and walked to Starobilsk, 60 km away. Their relatives rented a bus to bring them home. However, the men were stopped at the border and sent to the village of Zaitseve, where they are being imprisoned.
11/ Now, says the son in a petition to the Russian authorities, "they have two choices – either they will be sent back to their deaths for slaughter, or they will be sent to prison ... This is the extermination of our men, not even by the enemy, but by our own commanders!"
12/ Another group of men held at Zaitsevo were from a unit that retreated from Kolomyichykha, near Svatove in Luhansk oblast. I've told their story previously, which included a general holding a gun to their commander's head to 'remotivate' him.
13/ According to a wife, the men took shelter in an abandoned house in Svatove without any food or water but an officer drove them outdoors to live and sleep in the open air. After being berated and threatened, the men were disarmed and driven away to the prison at Zaitseve.
14/🔺 Basements in Zavitne Bazhanya and Staromlynivka, Donetsk oblast
A woman says her husband was imprisoned with others in this location after he refused to fight, following several days under Ukrainian shelling.
A woman says her husband was imprisoned with others in this location after he refused to fight, following several days under Ukrainian shelling.
15/ Despite being sent initially to a training ground he was given no training. He was sent to the front line only 9 days after being mobilised. He was not officially assigned to any military unit, meaning he wasn't getting paid.
16/ After writing a refusal report, he was imprisoned in a basement-prison in Staromlynivka, then transferred to another basement-prison at Zavitne Bazhanya. His wife says they are living in "anti-sanitary conditions" and are not being fed properly.
17/ Other mobilised men imprisoned in Staromlynivka were sent after two days to "some kind of forest belt nearby to hide them from an inspection that arrived on the scene." (This is interesting, as it suggests that parts of the Russian army may be working against each other.)
18/ The men lived in the forest in crude shelters for a week and a half before being sent to the Zavitne Bazhanya basement-prison. In the unhygenic conditions there, many of them developed serious health problems and had to be transferred to a hospital on 7 November.
19/ Another group of men whose story I've also told recently (see below) also ended up in Zavitne Bazhanya after initially being detained in Perevalsk. According to the wife of one man, "My husband and 80 other men are sitting in a basement."
20/ "They were stripped naked in order to take away their phones; one man has miraculously kept his phone. They were beaten. They are fed very badly. They are forced to go to the front like meat, but the guys refuse."
21/ 🔺 Former prison at Perevalsk, Luhansk oblast
The former Ukrainian penal colony no. 15 in Perevalsk, partly destroyed by bombing, has been used to imprison mobilised men who took heavy casualties at Tors'ke, east of Lyman. (See thread below).
The former Ukrainian penal colony no. 15 in Perevalsk, partly destroyed by bombing, has been used to imprison mobilised men who took heavy casualties at Tors'ke, east of Lyman. (See thread below).
22/ After this facility was exposed by ASTRA, the men imprisoned there were transferred to a basement in Rubizhne, then another basement in Kreminna.
23/ 🔺 Basements at Rubizhne and Kreminna, Luhansk oblast
The men who retreated from from Tors'ke were imprisoned here (see tweet above) before being transferred to Kreminna.
The men who retreated from from Tors'ke were imprisoned here (see tweet above) before being transferred to Kreminna.
24/ They recorded their situation in a video, showing the dark, cramped conditions they are enduring. Another picture shows that they are using an open bucket as a toilet.
25/ 🔺 Basement in Dokuchaevsk, Donetsk
A group of untrained mobilised men from the Rostov and Astrakhan regions were imprisoned along with their commander in a basement in Dokuchaevsk after they refused repeated orders to storm Ukrainian positions – presumably seen as suicidal.
A group of untrained mobilised men from the Rostov and Astrakhan regions were imprisoned along with their commander in a basement in Dokuchaevsk after they refused repeated orders to storm Ukrainian positions – presumably seen as suicidal.
26/ According to a relative, "There they were put in jail for an indefinite period, told they would never be tried or investigated, and also redistributed to other soldiers all their equipment, ...
27/ most of which had been purchased with the mobilised men's own money, [telling them it was] "so that no one else would refuse to go to the front.""
Nothing more is known about what is currently happening to these men. /end
Nothing more is known about what is currently happening to these men. /end
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