“Russian recruits are human shields… Warriors appear one after another within a few days of entering Ukraine”

"Coffins with the bodies of new recruits are already seen all over Russia. The recruits are just bullet holes."

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 16th (local time) that the new recruits conscripted by Russia through a mobilization order, put on the defensive in the Ukraine war, are dying within a few days of being put into battle.

According to reports, videos and news exposing the actual conditions of Russian recruits are spreading widely.

These posts draw attention to the fact that recruits conscripted under Russia's recent mobilization order are deployed to the front lines without proper military training, and the combat supplies and living conditions are poor.

According to the New York Times, some of the recruits were deployed to the Ukrainian Eastern Front, where fierce battles took place just 11 days after they were mobilized.

One of them told The New York Times, "I was trained to fire only once. At the time, I only had three magazines."

Sometimes they are put into the first battle without any training.

A new recruit assigned to a tank regiment said in an online video that there was an announcement by the regiment commander that there would be no shooting practice for the recruits and that theory lessons would be omitted.

The New York Times reported that Russia, which issued a partial mobilization order for reserve forces in September, is conscripting citizens at will, but the training system for them is insufficient.

Glev Irisov, a former analyst for Russian state news agency TAS, said Russia lost a lot of military experts during the war and said "there is no one left to train new recruits."

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Poor training soon leads to new recruits who, until recently, were civilians.

Russian authorities in central Chelyabinsk announced on the 13th that many new recruits without military training had been killed.

Five of them were found dead on the Ukrainian Eastern Front.

The details of the deaths were not disclosed, but the New York Times reported that they were sent to the front lines "like a human shield" without combat training, citing the BBC broadcast that reported the testimony of an acquaintance of the dead.

A reporter from the Russian state broadcaster RT said on Telegram that a 28-year-old recruit, who was sent to battle without training, died in Ukraine days after being drafted.

Western military experts analyze that Russia is in a hurry to fill the hole in its forces.

In fact, the West estimates that close to 80,000 Russian soldiers have died since the start of the war on February 24.

Ukrainian authorities estimate that Russia has mobilized 200,000 people so far, and some claim that some have already been sent to the battlefield and have been captured or killed.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted at a press conference on the 14th that 16,000 new recruits had been deployed to combat units, some of whom only trained for 5 to 10 days.

Andrei Gururev, a hardlinist member of the Russian Federation Parliament, said it would take at least two months for Russia to bring properly trained troops into battle.

Training isn't the only thing these recruits lack.

Sometimes you don't even get the right combat gear.

"I have no machine guns, no clothes, no shoes," said one recruit. "Half of the recruits are drunk and old."

He also testified that he had to purchase essential items at his own expense, including combat boots, bulletproof vests, backpacks, medicines, bandages and food.

A video posted online showed 500 men, who were completely disheveled, standing at a train station in the Belgorod region of the southern Russian border city.

It turns out that they are living in harsh conditions without being assigned to a specific unit.

They also find their own food and are known to run out of ammunition to use in battle.

The New York Times explained that Russia appears to be focusing on quantity rather than quality of its military.

"Russia is at a crossroads," said Johann Norberg, a Russian analyst at the Swedish Institute for Defense Science. “You have to choose between putting new recruits into battle.”