Russian Soldier Says Moscow Sends 'Children' to Front Line Without Ammo

A Russian soldier has purportedly warned that Moscow is marching "children" to their deaths by sending them to the front lines of the Ukraine war without ammunition.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed in a Facebook post on Tuesday that Russia had lost at least 313,470 troops since launching its invasion on February 24, 2022. Newsweek has not independently verified Ukraine's claims or any other claimed casualty figures during the war.

Reports of undertrained and ill-equipped Russian soldiers losing their lives in battle have been rampant throughout most of the ongoing conflict. There have also been multiple claims of child soldiers being used during the war, with varying degrees of veracity.

A video shared Tuesday to X, formerly Twitter, by Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko shows what appears to be a masked soldier lamenting that young troops—referred to as "18-year-old children"—are being "sent to slaughter" in Ukraine without proper training or equipment.

"I am recording this video on behalf of the Kamchatka Battalion, who were just sent to slaughter," the soldier says. "There are 18-year-old children, untrained, who died here ... They didn't even shoot, because they have no ammunition."

"We were sent here empty-handed," he continues. "Every day, there are killed and wounded ... People are dying. People are untrained. No equipment. We hold our position as best we can, we don't give it up. But there are a lot of us dying here."

The solider goes on to say that many troops would "soon" die of "hunger and cold," due to a lack of rations and proper clothing as the cold winter months take hold.

While still referring to the young adults as "children," the soldier adds that "half" of the unit had already been killed and condemned Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov forming the battalion.

"You just exposed children to gunfire," the soldier says. "How will you look into the eyes of the parents of the dead children, who are 18 to 20 years old? I just don't understand you, Solodov."

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email on Tuesday.

Solodov has urged residents of Kamchatka, which is in Russia's far east, to join a volunteer battalion to fight in Ukraine on one-year contracts. However, he has faced criticism for purportedly failing to honor the terms of the contract.

The U.S. State Department included Solodov's name when announcing a new round of financial sanctions against Russian officials in February, while pointing out that the duties of Russian governors include the "conscription of citizens to fight in Ukraine."

The U.K. government also hit Solodov with sanctions this year, accusing him of helping facilitate the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the alleged deportation scheme in March.

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