Featured Image Credit: e2w
Topics: Russia
Anish Vij
Russian civilians are being forced to fight in Ukraine with rusty worn-out guns, a new video reportedly shows.
Vladimir Putin's declaration of partial mobilisation is the first time Russia has mobilised for war since WWII, with the president calling up around 300,000 reservists with prior military experience.
Well, it seems that this group of reservists weren't best pleased when they received their pick of weaponry.
Watch below:
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“It's the tank boys who were given this c*** [rusty Kalashnikovs],” says one voice as the men are given their war kit.
“They said: ‘You've got tanks, so don't give a **** about the Kalashnikovs’.”
One man said of the worn and rusty guns: “These are the machine guns we're getting.
“F***** up, I'm f****** up….
“I won’t comment on anything….I’m shocked.”
It was later claimed that their old guns were replaced with newer models due to the uproar.
Pictures on social media show mile-long queues have formed on Russia's borders as people are desperate to leave before getting drafted.
In a televised address, Putin said: "To protect our motherland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to ensure the safety of our people and people in the liberated territories, I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the defence ministry and the General Staff to conduct a partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation.
"We are talking about partial mobilisation. That is, only citizens who are currently in the reserves and, above all, those who have served in the armed forces have military skills and relevant experience. Only they will be subject to conscription."
"Conscripts will obligatorily go through additional military training based on the experience of the special military operation before departing to the units."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak mocked Putin's latest change-of-plan, in a Twitter post.
“Everything is still according to the plan, right? Life has a great sense of humour,” he wrote.
“210th day of the ‘three-day war’. Russians who demanded the destruction of Ukraine ended up getting; 1. Mobilisation; 2. Closed borders, blocking of bank accounts; 3. Prison for desertion."
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information.