MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. To mobilize people, the Ukrainian authorities are snatching citizens off the streets like stray dogs, after which they are thrown into battle without any training whatsoever, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference.

"They are mobilizing people on the streets, snatching them like stray dogs. At least, they take stray dogs to shelters and then try to find them homes, but here they simply throw them into the fire. There is no time for any training," the Russian leader stated.

Putin noted that even those trained in Western countries "cannot compare to the Soviet schooling." This is, above all, due to the fact that Western instructors training them have no real experience, having never been in combat themselves.