Vladimir Putin’s troops in Ukraine are miserable and exhausted, a video of Russian army wives has revealed as they plead for their husbands to come home.
Sixteen women recorded an emotional appeal to the head of their region, Buryatia, appealing for an end to a deployment which began when they were sent to Belarus in January for “drills."
The women called for their husbands to be returned, fearing their fate as widows, like hundreds of others from their region, if the war continues.
They bluntly told Putin-loyalist governor Alexei Tsydenov that their men “are exhausted morally and physically”.
They claim their husbands have “mild or moderate” injuries caused by blast waves from proximity to shooting.
The wives said: "Since January 2022, the soldiers are in field conditions, many of them suffering colds.
"They require medical checks because of being in difficult military conditions. Note that many of the servicemen have not had a holiday for over a year.”
The men are from military unit 46108 of the 5th Tatsin separate tank brigade from Buryatia republic, the Russian region with the single highest known death from Putin’s bloody war.
Critics have claimed that it is an impoverished territory and men have been recruited as "cannon fodder" for the war.
Known fatalities stand at 206 in the mainly Buddhist region close to Lake Baikal in Siberia.
“We ask [you] to consider replacing the servicemen…with other Russian troops not engaged in the special military operation,” say the wives.
“We ask to order our relatives back to their permanent location in Buryatia.”
At least 30 men from their brigade are known to have died in the war in Ukraine, but Putin loyalist politician Tsydenov has not responded to the heartfelt plea from the women.
The video was recorded near their husbands’ military base and appeared on the Instagram account of one of the women, Vera Partilkhaeva.
She later deleted her account after the wives’ protest was noticed as the women could face prosecution and punishment for publicly denouncing the military deployment of their husbands.
However, the identity of the women is unclear and the video was published by Baikal People, who has consistently revealed details of fatalities in the war.
Ukraine has accused two soldiers from this brigade of war crimes during Putin’s invasion.
They were named Bayaskhalan Shultumov and Pavel Aganaev by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Irina Venediktova, said The Insider.
It is not clear if their wives were among those making the appeal.
The Ukrainians allege “they illegally broke into a private house where several families were hiding from the atrocities of the invaders”.
They “threatened” locals with “firearms and physical violence” in Buzovo village, Buchansky district and "they beat the men with the butt of a machine gun, punching and kicking.
“In addition to torture, the …marauders stole $60,000 of savings from people.”
