The Atesh partisan movement has announced the mobilization of its agents into the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces, according to a report shared by the group on Telegram.
The report claims that, for the first time since the full-scale war began, Russia has openly started drafting Ukrainians from recently occupied territories for military service.
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“Agents from our movement took advantage of this and came to the military enlistment offices as volunteers. This will allow us to conduct operations within military units and gather more relevant information,” the partisans said.
According to Atesh, residents in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions are being forced to serve in the Russian military, which the group considers an international war crime.
The Russians reportedly promise that the conscripts will not be sent to the “special military operation” (SVO) area.
“But no one believes this for obvious reasons. If you have been drafted in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, reach out to us and make the occupiers regret everything they have done,” the partisans reported.
Earlier in October, the Center for National Resistance (CNS) reported that conscription had begun in the temporarily occupied territories. The draft campaign is set to last until December 31, with a target of mobilizing at least 150,000 recruits. This number includes a significant portion from the annexed regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Crimea.
A Mistake Repeated is Not a Mistake but a Choice
The first conscription campaign in the occupied territories took place in the autumn of last year. As then, recruits are now being promised that their service will not involve participation in the SVO.
However, CNS reports indicate that many conscripts were later coerced into signing contracts with Russia's Ministry of Defense and ended up “fighting against their homeland.”
In a report issued at the end of August, CNS suggested that residents in occupied regions were reluctant to join the Russian military.
“All regions have failed to meet recruitment targets for the Russian Armed Forces. The overall shortfall across the temporarily occupied territories is 60%,” the report read.
The situation is reportedly worst in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, where Russians have managed to recruit only a few dozen individuals.
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