Platoon of 20 men ‘destroyed in a minute’ says Russian soldier captured after 12 days at front
The Russian soldier, a resident of Russia’s Udmurt Republic, arrived in Ukraine on Sept. 13 and was captured on Sept. 25 in Kharkiv Oblast, having seen the rest of his platoon killed in one minute.
Read also: Russia sending newly-mobilized troops to southern Ukraine, says operational command
The Russian soldier said he was astounded by how well equipped the Ukrainian soldiers were, and how skilled they were in battle.
"We saw people armed properly, trained properly, every second person had a radio, all of them had thermal imagers, all of them had night-vision devices…” the captive said.
“They shot the whole platoon in a minute. In one minute 20 people died.”
In addition, the soldier noted that Russian mobilized infantry undergo accelerated training for two days, while Russian tank crews are trained in 10 days.
Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin announced a "partial mobilization" in Russia on Sept. 21. The call-up came after the Russian army suffered a heavy defeat in Ukraine, losing swathes of formerly occupied territory in Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast.
Read also: Thousands of newly-mobilized Russian conscripts in Belgorod complain about “barbaric conditions”
According to official data from the Russian Defense Ministry, the plan is to draft about 300,000 reservists. However, the part of the published decree ordering the mobilization dealing with the number of draftees is marked only “for official use.”
According to Russian opposition media, the secret paragraph of the plan details the mobilization of around one million Russians for the war in Ukraine.
After the announcement, Russians began to buy tickets abroad en masse to avoid participation in their country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Read also: About 700,000 people leave Russia after announced mobilization
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Oct. 4 that 200,000 people had already been mobilized.
Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
