Off to the front line, Putin’s nervous conscripts

LOOKING tense as they report for duty, these young Russians are the latest conscripts who face being sent to fight in Ukraine.

Many were seen sharing emotional farewells with loved ones ahead of signing up in Angarsk, Irkutsk region, southern Russia. Across the country, hundreds of thousands of conscripts aged 18 to 27 are being drafted after a decree by Vladimir Putin.

But the fact men are allegedly being forced to sign up with barely any training has sparked protests, with enlistment offices even attacked with Molotov cocktails. One online dissenter wrote: ‘Tens of thousands are dead and as many wounded. When can we stop this madness?’

An ex-Western diplomat in Moscow said: ‘Many draftees... have gone home in body bags and sadly some of these will not avoid the same fate.’