Russian wives and mothers call on Putin

• A group of Russian wives and mothers have petitioned President Vladimir Putin.
• The women are seen in the video holding a sign in Russian.
• Russia’s decision to send hundreds of thousands of troops to fight on Ukrainian battlefields.

A group of Russian wives and mothers have petitioned President Vladimir Putin to stop sending their husbands and sons “to the slaughter” by forcing them to join assault groups with insufficient training and supplies.

The women claimed in a video shared by the independent Russian Telegram channel SOTA that their loved ones were “forced to join assault groups” at the beginning of March despite having received only four days of training since their mobilisation in September.

The women are seen in the video holding a sign in Russian that reads “580 Separate Howitzer Artillery Division,” with the date March 11, 2023.

“My husband… is located on the line of contact with the enemy,” says one woman in the recording.

“Our mobilized [men] are being sent like lambs to the slaughter to storm fortified areas – five at a time, against 100 heavily armed enemy men,” she continued.

“They are prepared to serve their homeland but according to the specialization they’ve trained for, not as stormtroopers. We ask that you pull back our guys from the line of contact and provide the artillerymen with artillery and ammunition.”

Russia’s decision to send hundreds of thousands of troops to fight on Ukrainian battlefields has sparked outrage and prompted many Russians, particularly young men, to flee the country.

”We ran away from Russia because we want to live,” one man, who asked not to be identified to protect loved ones left behind, previously told. “We are afraid that we can be sent to Ukraine.”

Families of drafted Russian men have criticised the mobilisation, claiming that it is plagued by issues such as discipline issues and a lack of leadership from mid-ranking officers, as well as logistical issues such as insufficient uniforms, poor food, and a lack of medical supplies.

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