Russian Conscripts Being Denied Food, Water After Complaining, Video Shows

Videos shared on social media show newly mobilized Russian troops enduring cramped conditions, a lack of food and being informed they should use tampons to stem the blood from bullet wounds due to a lack of equipment.

One clip shared by the Twitter account Ukraine Reporter shows a Russian conscript recounting how his unit was being punished for a previous video in which complaints were made about their conditions.

The soldier holding the camera is heard describing how following the complaint video made two days before, "we have been warned that conditions will get even worse. Today they have restricted access to the bathroom." They have also been denied food and water, he added. "Russia's mobilization looks like mass incarceration to a growing number of soldiers," Ukraine Reporter tweeted.

News outlet Nexta tweeted a video of a military unit representative in the Altai region in southern Siberia telling conscripts to buy everything including medicines and tourniquets.

"You will be given armor and a uniform, nothing else," she said, before telling them to get first aid kits from cars, "get the tourniquets from there."

She said soldiers should use women's tampons to treat bullet wounds. "In case of a bullet wound, put it directly in the hole, there it begins to swell."

"Make sure to buy cheap pads, do you understand?" she said, "guys, take care of yourselves."

Another video tweeted by Nexta is sarcastically titled, "the adventures of the mobilized in #Russia pt.1" and shows a fight for space in cramped barracks between mobilized troops and their gear such as backpacks.

There has been anger and shock within Russia following President Vladimir Putin's announcement last week of a partial mobilization to prop up his faltering invasion of Ukraine in light of huge losses and the success of Ukraine's counteroffensive.

The Kremlin has said that it intends to call up 300,000 reservists but videos emerging over the last few days show there is disarray in the mobilization, with clips of drunken conscripts going viral.

Lines of traffic six miles long built up at Russia's border with Georgia after Putin's announcement as men fled the call-up.

Meanwhile, footage tweeted by Ukraine Reporter on Sunday shows discord in the Caucasus, with the message "the fiercest protests against Russia's mobilization are in Dagestan."

"The Rosgvardiya (National Guard) was brought in to restore order (including by force) but local sources report that the protests are gathering steam," it said.

The Russian Defense Ministry, which Newsweek has contacted for comment, portrayed a more orderly draft effort in its press statement on Tuesday in which it described a briefing at the Frunzensky district military commissariat in St. Petersburg.

It said that the soldiers were given information about their combat training and then "they will be sent to replenish military units and subunits." Ilya Sergeenko, a reserve sergeant, was quoted as saying, "we took an oath that the Motherland must be defended. People need our help, but we don't leave our own in trouble."

Update 9/27/22 5:05 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a new headline.