Russia will send soldiers without arms and legs back to the front lines

Anne Catherine Hamilton/watson.de

Trigger Warning: The following text describes violent behavior that may cause stress and re-traumatization.

For more than two years, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has been sending Russians to Ukraine — mostly to die. Russia is known for its so-called “meat grinder tactics.” In other words, terrain gains are achieved through high losses; soldiers are often sent to certain death.

More and more sons, fathers and brothers are not surviving Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine, which violates international law. NATO currently estimates Russian soldier losses at 600,000. Experts say Putin wants to avoid a wave of mobilization to keep Russians' war mood alive.

A Russian soldier shells a Ukrainian position.Image source: Russian Ministry of Defense News Agency/Unnamed

Instead, he increasingly relied on foreign mercenaries or used money to lure contract soldiers to the front lines.

Russia: Burnt bodies reported 'missing'.

Meduza, an online outlet critical of the Kremlin, wrote that in some areas the one-time payments were said to amount to millions of rubles. The monthly salary paid is significantly higher than the average salary.

But such a contract is like a deal with the devil. Because: According to reports, Russia will no longer be so quick to release these men once they are caught in a war. The same is true for seriously injured people who narrowly escape death. As reports of Russian deserters show, there was no mercy.

According to NATO, Russia is said to have lost 600,000 Russian troops so far.Image: AP

Andrei, a Russian, has been serving on the front lines as a contract soldier since August 2024. “Meduza” wrote that what he fears most is a Ukrainian drone attack. It refers to reports by the independent journalist “Beregue Cooperative”, which exchanged views with those affected. These statements cannot be independently verified.

Russian Andrey remembers a wounded comrade he was unable to save.

Forever War: Russian soldiers no longer from contracts

“He asked me to stay with him. Pity brought tears to my eyes, but there was nothing I could do. As soon as I jumped out, the whole trench was on fire,” the Russian reported. The charred bodies were fished out and handed over to the unit the next day. The order there was to classify him as “missing.”

Andrei's suspicions about the Russian invasion grew, and he considered terminating his contract with the Department of Defense. But according to him this is impossible.

Background: Following the announcement of mobilization in the fall of 2022, all contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense officially became permanent.

According to Meduza, the law provides only three legal grounds for firing Russian contract soldiers:

Human rights activists criticized the Russian military's actions. The Russians mobilized in 2022 are in the position of “serfs”. Even if they were injured, none of them would give up the war without going to jail.

Ukraine war: Blind Russian soldiers act as grenade launchers

Andre had been battling blindness for months. “Near Buckmut, we had a stampede and a tank fired at us and shrapnel broke my collarbone,” he recalled, Meduza reported. A piece of shrapnel was lost and “flew into me The retina of my right eye was burned – now I can only see a black spot.”

But the Russian officers didn't care. Andre never had a medical exam. He asked to be a driver, but they turned him into a grenade launcher. “What you'll find is, you'll learn to shoot with your left eye,” he said. There's a problem: the weapon's mount is designed for the right hand, the sight for the right eye.

If he and his comrades failed to make progress, their superiors would brutally attack them. “They say what stupid idiots we are for not moving forward, why the hell are we doing this? We're not needed at all, it's better for us to die there,” the contract soldier said.

Anyone who conflicts with the commander will be severely punished.

Some were handcuffed to a tree in the forest without food or water. «Five days. Only our people, those who understand us, give us food. When the committee came – the military big boys – they hid us,” Andrei said.

Contract soldier Sergey also reported similar incidents. Although he lost a leg in the war, he was not allowed to leave the army – on the contrary.

Putin's Rehabilitation Corps for Wounded Soldiers

According to Meduza, in October 2023, Sergei landed in the direction of Kupiansk, Unit 29760 of the 25th Motorized Rifle Brigade. He suffered severe leg injuries and spent six days in a ditch on water, cigarettes and the painkiller Tramadol. His commander didn't even want to coordinate his evacuation. “Pull the f**k out of him – let him rot,” Sergey quoted her as saying.

Still, his colleagues put pressure on the command, and Sergey ended up in the hospital. By this time it was too late and his leg had to be amputated.

But the war was not over for him.

After hospitalization, Sergey was assigned to a so-called rehabilitation regiment created specifically for wounded military personnel. It is said that the contract soldier will not be released, but will continue to be detained in the Nizhny Novgorod Mulino military training area where the division is stationed.

Sergey's documents were frequently “missing” and in every new report about the soldier's dismissal, mention was made of his alleged refusal to be fitted with a prosthetic leg, at the expense of the Russian Defense Ministry. “They said they would release me faster,” Sergey explained.

He further claimed that the wounded were often “sent back to the front lines like living flesh.”

Russia: Back to the frontline “with splinters on the head”.

“People are sent here with the promise that they will receive treatment now. But often, they don't wait for treatment and go straight back,” the report quoted another contract soldier as saying. Suffering from hepatitis, HIV, no arms or legs, splinters on his head.

Vladimir Putin clearly has no mercy for his wounded soldiers.Image: trapezoid

One of his friends had three fingers ripped off. A week later, half of his right arm was torn off. “Now they are putting prosthetics on him – he will go back. Until everyone walks like a Terminator, wears prosthetics and fights,” it said.

Reports of “paralysis” of commando units are nothing new. Important Stories reported on this back in 2023, reporting that anyone who complained about conditions or argued with command would be sent back to the front lines sooner than others, with virtually no way out of the contract.

“Now you can only quit when you no longer have two arms, two legs or no head at all,” said one contract soldier.