About 5,000 conscripts from occupied Kherson region being turned into “cannon fodder,” expert says

Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies Serhii Danylov told this to an Ukrinform correspondent.

“I have information that men conscripted into the Russian army from the TOT of Kherson region, after undergoing initial military training — despite promises that they would not fight — are already being sent back to the occupied territories, effectively to the front line,” Danylov said.

According to him, unlike conscripts from Russia’s own territory, conscripts from the occupied regions are the ones Russians have decided to turn into “cannon fodder.”

Danylov noted that, according to currently unconfirmed data, about 5,000 men from the occupied part of Kherson region may have been drafted into compulsory military service in the Russian Armed Forces.

First Deputy Head of Kherson Regional Council Yurii Sobolevskyi said he could also confirm at least several cases in which conscripts from the TOT, like contract soldiers, are being used in combat.

“How widespread this is — unfortunately, it is difficult to talk about numbers right now. But such a trend definitely exists. So, I can agree with what Serhii Danylov says about the situation,” Sobolevskyi noted.

According to Sobolevskyi, Russia is simultaneously trying to bolster its armed forces with contract soldiers through so-called “motivation.”

“Motivation in quotation marks, because these contracts are signed in different ways. A significant portion are people forced to sign under pressure; criminal cases are fabricated against them, they are intimidated. At the same time, contract soldiers are also assured that they will not participate in hostilities,” the deputy head of the regional council said.

In reality, Sobolevskyi added, these contract soldiers from the TOT are sent into the “meat grinder” at the front after only short-term training.

As Ukrinform reported, in autumn 2022 the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the right-bank part of Kherson region, including the city of Kherson. Part of the region located on the left bank of the Dnipro River remains temporarily occupied by Russian forces, while Ukrainian units maintain their positions there.

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