10
Loading video...
By Hugh Cameron
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Russia is reportedly recruiting Ukrainians from the eastern occupied territories to fight against their own country.
"Young men from the occupied territories of Ukraine were drafted into the Russian army for the first time," independent Russian outlet iStories posted to Telegram on Wednesday. It cited officials from the occupied regions, as well as state news agency RIA Novosti Crimea, which last week reported on a "ceremonial rally" held in Simferopol, Crimea, celebrating the conscription of new recruits from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in southern Ukraine.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the reports.
Read More on News
Now 1,000 days into the conflict, Russia continues to sustain heavy casualties at the hands of Kyiv's forces, rapidly depleting the manpower needed to sustain the country's so-called Special Military Operation. Its shrinking pool of troops has compelled Russia to bolster its ranks through other means, including financial incentives, penalties for those avoiding conscription as well as recruitment from foreign armies.
...
As well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, annexed by Russia following the launch of the full-scale invasion in 2022, iStories said that young people from Donetsk and Luhansk had also been sent to serve in the Russian armed forces.
"Recruiting Ukrainians is nothing new," Nick Reynolds, Land Warfare research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told Newsweek. "As with other previous waves of recruiting from LPR and DPR and from prisons, the utilization of those populations spares Russia's population at least some of the casualties - this is important, as those parts of the population who reside in Russia proper form the electorate and are politically enfranchised, at least to some degree."
Russia actually "started this shameful practice in 2014," according to Ukraine's Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories (MRTOT). "Refusal to receive a 'summons' from representatives of the occupation authorities can cost a person their life."
These recruits, who have reportedly included children as young as 12, were considered by Russia as "slaves" and "cannon fodder," according to the ministry, which quoted mobilized Ukrainians who had later been captured.
The issue was also brought to light in 2020 by then-ambassador to the OSCE James S. Gilmore, who said that this represented "a violation of the obligations that the Russian Federation owes under its subscription to the Geneva Convention."
The practice, described by the MRTOT as "conscription at gunpoint," has drawn repeated condemnation from state officials and human rights groups.
In October, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the forced mobilization of Ukrainians into Russia's army contravened both the norms of international law as they pertain to sovereignty, as well as Article 51 of the Fourth Geneva Convention concerning the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which states: "The occupying power may not compel protected persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces."
Following the recent reports of residents from Donetsk being drafted, the City Council of Mariupol said: "The occupiers claim that the conscripts will apparently not take part in the war against Ukraine. However, no guarantee exists. After all, the Russians have repeatedly used young people at the front, in order to save their forces."
Human Rights Watch published a report in December 2023 outlining how Russian authorities would force detained Ukrainians into joining its armed forces, declaring this practice "a war crime."
Those held in prisons in areas such as Donetsk would be given "volunteer enlistment" applications by prison administration and law enforcement officials, before being deprived of water and given only unsafe food until they agreed to enlist.
"Russian authorities openly and unlawfully force men in occupied areas of Ukraine to fight against their own country," said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Less visible is their practice of pressuring Ukrainian civilians in detention, who have nowhere to hide or flee, to join the Russian forces."
Nick Reynolds of RUSI said that domestic propaganda efforts by the Russian state had effectively put an end to the country's conscription crisis, but that strengthening its forces with Ukrainian recruits would help to strain Kyiv's defensive efforts, as would the recruitment of soldiers from North Korea.
"The involvement of North Korean forces in the war will further alleviate previous manpower problems that previously prevented proper training and unit rotation and will allow Russia to lengthen the front lines and impose overstretch upon the Ukrainian Armed Forces," he said.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
Update 11/20/24, 10:14 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comments from Nick Reynolds of the Royal United Services Institute.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines