Some Russians drafted to fight in Ukraine say nobody is in charge and they don’t know what they’re doing there: report

(The Insider is a Russian news outlet and has no affiliation with Insider.)

In the footage complained directly to the Russian Ministry of Defense about their lack of direction and equipment.

The group, per the report, said they were from Russia’s Krasnodar region and had been called up towards the beginning of the mobilization announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21.

After training, the men said, “it turns out that we’re somewhere in the fields of Ukraine and they just threw us out into the field like dogs,” according to The Insider.

They also said they were only equipped with uniforms and were given some AK-47s and bayonets – but no ammunition. 

“There is no information, no command, we’re on pins and needles, as we don’t know where our people are and where [the enemy] is,” one man said in the video, The Insider reported. 

“No radio, no ammo, not a fucking thing. No medical supplies either,” he added. “I’d like to show this to our authorities … Do you consider this normal?” 

Insider was unable to independently verify the video.

The report comes more than a month after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of his country’s military reservists. 

It tallies with other reports pointing to poor training and equipment issues among mobilized Russians.

Marina Miron, an honorary research fellow at the Centre for Military Ethics at King’s College London, told Insider’s Sinead Baker last week it was likely that “some of those mobilized have been sent to Ukraine without any guidance or training whatsoever.”

Lack of equipment is also an issue in the Russian military, with one draftee telling The Guardian last week that he was made to buy his own gear.

“They gave us absolutely no equipment. The army has nothing,” the draftee told The Guardian.