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Ukrainian army abandons servicemen refusing to lay mines — captive

According to Mikhail Kostyuk, following his draft, he went through virtually no training

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. The command of the Ukrainian armed forces abandoned military personnel who had refused to install anti-tank mines in the Sumy Region, Mikhail Kostyuk, a Ukrainian prisoner of war (POW), said in a video shared by the Russian Defense Ministry.

"We were sent to the Sumy Region. They placed us into an abandoned house, where we settled and spent a day. In the evening, we were told to prepare for a mission. They got us anti-tank mines, placed us in a car and showed a video, explained how to install these mines. They told us to complete the objective, and we refused. We were told that refusal was unacceptable. When we were on our way back, there was heavy shelling. Turned out, we were left behind and no one returned for us. We didn’t know what to do, so we surrendered," the captive said.

According to the Ukrainian man, following his draft, he went through virtually no training. "We were briefed on how to hold a rifle and use it. And we were not trained in anything else," he noted.

The POW also said that the command was terrorizing its troops. "If you are caught, you go to prison or are sent to the frontline with an automatic rifle, or even with a shovel to dig without a bullet-proof vest, and so on. That’s what the higher-ups told us, what they alluded to," he said.

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