Belgorod draftees say they were redeployed to ‘DNR’ and sent to ‘storm villages’ with no training

Draftees serving in a territorial defense unit for Russia’s Belgorod region complained in a video posted to Telegram late Monday that they were forced to join an “assault brigade” from the “Donetsk People's Republic” and sent to the front without appropriate training.

According to the soldiers, their unit was previously stationed in the border village of Shebekino, but in early March, they were redeployed to the self-proclaimed DNR “with no orders or explanations.”

The draftees allege that when they arrived in occupied Ukraine, their military IDs were taken by “militiamen” from the “DNR.” After that, they say, they were sent to “storm villages” with no training, intel about their targets, or means of communication.

The men say in the clip that their platoon has already suffered casualties. They note that they’re not refusing to perform their assigned tasks, but that they only want to do so as part of the Russian Armed Forces (rather than with the “DNR” army).