We sent conscripts to war, Kremlin admits

Moscow says almost all have returned to Russia as reports show Chechens and mercenaries fill gaps

RUSSIA has admitted for the first time that it did send conscripts to fight in Ukraine, as defence analysts said the military was “struggling to assemble” a large enough force to capture Kyiv.

Vladimir Putin and Russian officials have previously insisted that “only professional servicemen” were involved in the invasion, despite reports from desperate Russian mothers that their conscript sons had been pressured into joining the war and that they had since lost contact with them.

However, Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian defence ministry, yesterday admitted that conscripts were deployed in the country.

He said: “Unfortunately, we have uncovered several instances of the presence of conscripts in the Russian units taking part in the special military operation in Ukraine. Almost all of those servicemen have been taken back to Russia.”

Mr Konashenkov, who did not give any numbers, also confirmed Ukrainian reports that several conscripts had been taken prisoner and said Moscow was working to bring them home.

Meanwhile, analysts said that Putin’s forces, bogged down by a combination of stiff Ukrainian resistance, logistical problems and other failures, were being bolstered by Kremlin-funded mercenaries and Chechen fighters.

Reports from the front line suggested soldiers sent by Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s leader, were occupying villages to the north west of Kyiv.

Mr Kadyrov, one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, said “thousands” more Chechens were ready to go to the front. Ukraine said that mercenaries paid by the Wagner Group, a private military company that has been deployed in Africa and the Middle East, were operating. Ukraine’s military believes troops supplied by Chechnya and Wagner are being lined up for a push on Kyiv after a rapid assault on the first two days of the war failed to capture the capital or “decapitate” Ukraine’s government.

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, told MPS that Putin’s attempt to push the Wagner Group into Ukraine was a sign of “desperation”. He said: “I think there’s something very telling about Russia’s desperation at the moment.

“We’ve seen significant amounts of effort to try to bring Wagner Group into Ukraine … The fact that Russia is now trying to encourage them to take part in Ukraine, I think, is a telling sign. It doesn’t give us any comfort, but it is, nevertheless, a sign.”

A report by the Institute for the Study of War, a Us-based defence think tank, said the use of Chechen fighters and mercenaries “in addition to conventional military units to lead an assault is unusual”. The report went on: “It likely indicates that the Russian military is struggling to amass sufficient combat power on this axis from the available conventional military units.

“Observed and reported casualties among Russia’s mechanised and airborne forces in the vicinity of northwestern Kyiv Oblast [province] have been very high, and reports suggest morale and combat effectiveness of remaining conventional forces there are low.”

Russians have captured towns to the north west of Kyiv, including Irpin, Bucha and the military airfield at Hostomel but a 40-mile-long armoured convoy has stalled en route to Kyiv and is now vulnerable to attack.

Yesterday, the CIA said it believes between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting, while the Ukraine military and independent observers studying photographs and videos have logged the destruction of Russian equipment, including hundreds of tanks, armoured vehicles and aircraft.

Military strategists believe Russia will try to encircle Kyiv from the east and west within the next 72 hours and expect Chechen units to be involved.

Mr Kadyrov, the Chechen Republic’s leader who has been accused of atrocities at home, is close to the Kremlin and calls himself “Putin’s foot soldier”. He was scathing about Russia’s tactics at the start of the invasion and has complained that their advance was too slow.

Magomed Tushayev, a Chechen warlord, was reportedly killed at the start of the invasion in the fight for Hostomel, one of the key battlegrounds that has changed hands a number of times.

Philip Ingram, a former colonel in British military intelligence, said Putin had “failed to achieve any of the objectives I would have anticipated him to achieve by now” but the “traditional method for Russia is to become much more violent” as a consequence.

Meanwhile in Moscow, police have been accused of stopping commuters and demanding to check their phones, amid a crackdown on any sign of dissent that has already seen tens of thousands of people flee the country.

Officers at two metro stations in the south of Moscow were yesterday telling travellers to unlock their phones so messages could be read, according to OVD-INFO, a top Russian rights group that tracks wrongdoing by law enforcement.

‘The military is struggling to amass sufficient combat power from the available conventional units’