Russia Drafts Hundreds of Ukrainian Steel Plant Workers for War

Hundreds of workers from Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region will be drafted to fight for Russia as it seeks to bolster its army, according to Ukrainian military intelligence.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Defense Ministry said in a new report that between 200 and 500 workers from the plant would be ordered to fight in Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. As a result, operations at the plant will be temporarily suspended, the report added.

The plant is in the Ukrainian city of Yenakiieve and those working there may be Ukrainian born, but the Donetsk region houses the Russian-backed separatist state called the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR). It was not immediately clear if the plant workers identify as Ukrainian or as part of the breakaway region.

Newsweek was not able to independently verify the Ukrainian intelligence and reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry for confirmation and comment.

The purported draft of the plant workers came after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday that a partial mobilization will take place in Russia to send additional soldiers to Ukraine.

Putin said in an address that the order would apply only to Russian citizens currently in the reserves and those who have served in the army with "certain military specialties and relevant experience."

He said those being drafted would receive additional training before being sent to units, and that the mobilization was needed to "protect the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Russia."

There have been several indications that Putin has been facing manpower shortages in Ukraine in recent months, as well as morale issues among the troops that he does have in place.

The U.K. Defense Ministry wrote in its Friday intelligence update that the impact of Russia's manpower issues had become "increasingly severe," while an analyst for the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) told Newsweek this month that the think tank had assessed that Russia essentially had "no pristine regiment or brigade reserves" back home that it could pull for the Ukraine war.

The Ukrainian military intelligence report said that in addition to drafting hundreds of workers from the Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works, prisoners currently being held in the DNR, which is partially Russian-occupied, are being recruited to fight.

The recruits are planned to replenish the DNR's "Somalia" battalion, as well as brigades and regiments from Russia's army.

Russia has set up a training camp for the prisoners near the city of Torez, the directorate said. Potential contract workers are being chosen based on prior combat experience and physical criteria, but only a "small number" of them are willing to sign such a contract, it added.