“I want you to know that I personally and the leadership of the country share this pain,” Putin said at the start of the meeting. “We understand that nothing can replace the loss of a son or a child.”
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February in the clear hope that the government in Kiev would quickly collapse. When the original plan failed, and with Russian forces struggling to hold hundreds of miles to the front line, the Kremlin was forced to announce the mobilization of new recruits. prohibit earlier this month following public backlash on a scale not seen since the start of the invasion.
For many politically indifferent Russians, war finally reached their homes, robbing them of their husbands and sons. In some cases, relatives had to give everything to mobilized soldiers who were ill-equipped. from socks to drones. Many people were unable to contact their loved ones for weeks, anxiously awaiting the news.
On Sunday, Ms. Tsukanova’s organization held a press conference in Moscow, where many relatives of the soldiers had the opportunity to tell their stories.
“They have humiliated, deceived and bullied us, so women, we have nothing to fear,” said Ms. Tsukanova, whose son joined the army before September’s mobilization and was forced to serve at the military headquarters. border with Ukraine without much time before. training.
Yelena Kostina said her grandson was sent from the Lipetsk region in western Russia to the front lines in Ukraine just eight days after being mobilized.
Kostina said the newly mobilized “had to fight with automatic rifles against artillery.
Yelena Kalimysheva said her brother was thrown into battle without any supplies or means of communication, without a commander on the battlefield.
“They were hit by mortar fire,” said Kalimysheva, and forced to surrender. “Why,” she asked, “after a week of training, are they thrown into the woods and left there to die?”
