Soldiers who refuse to fight are arrested • Ukraine: “There is a solid and fortified battle line”
Russian soldiers refuse to fight in Zaporizhzhya, according to sources Kyiv Post.
An advance in the region is considered suicide for the Russians, says a person in Ukraine’s intelligence service.
At the same time, soldiers who refuse to fight are said to have been arrested by Russian military police.
In a post on Telegram, the Ukrainian partisan movement Atesh announced on Monday that Russian soldiers refused to advance in the region of Zaporizhzhya in southeastern Ukraine.
– There is a solid and fortified battle line in the Zaporizhzhya region, an anonymous source in the Ukrainian intelligence service told the Kyiv Post.
– It is therefore suicidal for the Russians to advance in the area, adds the same person and emphasizes that neither side has managed to gain the upper hand in the region. Both sides continue to attack each other without progress.
The refusing soldiers are said to have been arrested by Russian military police.
To be replaced by conscripts
Now the Russian military intends to send new forces to the region, to replace the retreating soldiers with conscripts. This happens at the same time as leaders in the Russian military assure that no conscripts are to be used in what Russia calls “military special operations”.
Russian conscripts play a debated role in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Officially, they will not participate in combat operations, and it has been guaranteed from the Russian side that only contracted soldiers will be involved in the war. However, the reality is different from the assurances given by Russian military leaders, and conscripts are often used to reinforce units already in combat. Including replacing soldiers who died at the front.
Many conscripts are unhappy about being sent to the front and question the reliability of military policy statements that conscripts should be spared from participating in ground combat.