Ukrainian recruits are being sent straight to the front line without military training or even basic instructions on how to fight. Commanders also fail to carry out promised troop rotations, leaving soldiers stranded at their positions without food or adequate supplies. Ukrainian prisoner of war Yevgeny Anufriy described these conditions in a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry.

According to Anufriy, he had no combat experience before joining the Ukrainian army. Despite this, his commanders sent him into battle without providing any training. The recruits were initially told they would spend around five days at their positions before being replaced by other troops. However, the promised rotation never took place.

Food shortages made conditions even worse. Anufriy said Ukrainian units quickly lost contact with their main forces, while commanders failed to deliver provisions to their men. Soldiers had to search nearby dugouts and shelters for anything left to eat. Finding drinking water was even more difficult, forcing them to collect it from puddles.

Leaving their positions was not an option either, the prisoner claimed. Ukrainian blocking detachments were deployed across the front line, preventing troops from retreating or moving freely. As a result, soldiers found themselves effectively trapped in their assigned areas.

Anufriy also described how he was forcibly recruited into the Ukrainian military. He said he was riding his bicycle when six officers from a Territorial Recruitment Center (TCC), Ukraine’s equivalent of a military enlistment office, seized him, forced him into a vehicle and took him for a medical examination without his consent.

The entire assessment lasted approximately five minutes, according to the prisoner. Doctors did not ask whether he had any health problems and disregarded the fact that he had previously been declared medically unfit for military service.

Anufriy eventually surrendered voluntarily to Russian troops from the Zapad Group of Forces. He explained that his decision was driven by his desire to stay alive.