Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Putin? ‘Dad’s Army’ of Russians dragged into spluttering Ukraine invasion includes overweight middle-aged men and women learning how to handle machine guns in bizarre scenes at training camp
- Bizarre new pictures have emerged of unassuming, middle-aged Russian civilians handling assault rifles
- Adults not on the frontlines were called to training sessions in Russia’s Rostov region to prepare for combat
- Participants paired khaki helmets and padded vests with rigid blue jeans and freshly manicured nails
- They said they would be prepared to defend their country and families if it became necessary to do so
- Military training is also underway for the conscripts called to the frontline under Putin’s ‘partial mobilisation’
Bizarre new pictures have emerged of unassuming, middle-aged Russian civilians who have not yet been called on to fight on the frontlines in Putin’s army posing with assault rifles and learning hand-to-hand combat.
The group were taking part in combat and weapons training sessions in Russia’s Rostov region – which shares a 250 mile border with Ukraine – to ensure they’re prepared to fight if they’re needed.
But most of the participants appeared out of place and awkward as they learned how to load and fire Kalishnikov assault weapons.
They paired khaki helmets and padded vests with rigid blue jeans and freshly manicured nails – drawing a stark comparison to the pictures of sheer devastation coming out of war-torn Ukraine.
Participants said they would be prepared to defend their country if it became necessary to do so, and one instructor told Reuters many said they felt ‘better protected’ after the classes.
One Rostov resident who attended the training session, Anna, said: ‘I have no husband. I live with my mum and my son so if anything happens I want to be ready to defend my family.’
Another said ‘if there’s an opportunity… you need to learn for whatever is coming, to be ready.
They paired khaki helmets and padded vests with rigid blue jeans and freshly manicured nails (left) – drawing a stark comparison to the pictures of sheer devastation coming out of war-torn Ukraine
Most of the participants appeared out of place and awkward as they learned how to load and fire Kalishnikov assault weapons
Bizarre new pictures have emerged of unassuming, middle-aged Russian civilians who have not yet been called on to fight on the frontlines in Putin’s army posing with assault rifles and learning hand-to-hand combat
Participants said they would be prepared to defend their country if it became necessary to do so, and one instructor told Reuters many said they felt ‘better protected’ after the classes
The classes included basic combat tactics and handling of a variety of weapons, including Kalashnikov assault rifles
The classes included basic combat tactics and handling of a variety of weapons, including Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Meanwhile proper military training is also underway for more conscripts who have been called to the frontlines as part of President Vladimir Putin’s ‘partial mobilisation’.
In late September, Putin announced 300,000 people with previous combat experience or specialist skills would be conscripted to the frontlines in Ukraine to help with the war.
Photos released from training camps throughout Russia show these men operating heavy-duty machinery and loading bullets into rifles.
Reports from dissenting voices out of Russia revealed pensioners, men with disabilities, and people without any military training or combat experience were receiving the call-up to fight on the frontlines.
Leaked complaints from new arrivals in Ukraine reveal the ailing Russian army is struggling to keep their men clothed, fed and armed.
Russian soldiers were filmed stealing a washing machine from a destroyed house in Ukraine on Friday – prompting jokes they were taking it back to the military camp.
Putin on Wednesday imposed martial law on four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine in response to battlefield reverses. He also placed several border regions including Belgorod on a ‘medium alert’ – bringing the war closer to home for millions of ordinary Russians.
The decree directed those regional administrations to carry out tasks including stepping up support for the military, and also gave them extra powers, including the ability to restrict freedom of movement.
In a statement on Telegram after a new regional task force meeting, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said it was recommending firms in the city of Belgorod and close to the border find ways to allow staff to work from home.
Pictured: A woman prepares to fire from a Kalashnikov assault rifle during one of the two-day civilian classes
Pictured: A man runs through overgrown grass at the training camp for civilians
There have been a number of attacks in recent weeks on power facilities and other infrastructure in the regional capital and near to the province’s 400-km (250-mile) frontier with Ukraine, as well as on fuel and ammunition depots.
Belgorod’s schools and colleges had already been told to close for two weeks. Gladkov said that, when they returned, those in the city and nine border regions should operate by distance learning until Dec. 1.
The regional administration would also support any residents of the city or border regions who wanted to leave the area temporarily.
‘The Moscow region is already ready to accept 500 Belgorod residents at one of its sanatoriums,’ he said, adding transport, food and accommodation would all be provided for free.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday night Putin’s forces mined the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and planned to blow it up, in a bid to cover their retreat from the city of Kherson with a vast deluge of water.
Meanwhile proper military training is also underway for more conscripts who have been called to the frontlines as part of President Vladimir Putin’s ‘partial mobilisation’
Photos released from training camps throughout Russia show these men operating heavy-duty machinery and loading bullets into rifles
In late September, Putin announced 300,000 people with previous combat experience or specialist skills would be conscripted to the frontlines in Ukraine to help with the war
Hundreds of thousands of people living around the lower Dnipro River would be in danger of rapid flooding if the dam was destroyed, Zelensky said.
The potential damage caused by such a move ‘can easily be compared to [an] atomic bomb explosion’, environmental security expert Maksym Soroka warned.
‘Everyone should understand that one cubic meter of water weighs a ton: imagine the amount of water in a meter-by-meter cube: that’s one ton. Dams contain a huge mass of water, millions of tons,’ Soroka told Rubryka, a Ukrainian news publication.
‘Force is mass multiplied by acceleration, and when that mass accelerates, we have a force of thousands of kilotons, and these forces are enough to destroy concrete. The devastating consequences become catastrophic.’
So far, he said, Putin’s forces ‘have had the sense not to attack our strategic hydraulic structures.’ Fears are rising that this could soon change.
Leaked complaints from new arrivals in Ukraine reveal the ailing Russian army is struggling to keep their men clothed, fed and armed
Russian conscripts attend a military training at a ground training range in the Rostov region on Friday
Leaked complaints from new arrivals in Ukraine reveal the ailing Russian army is struggling to keep their men clothed, fed and armed
Photos released from training camps throughout Russia show these men operating heavy-duty machinery and loading bullets into rifles
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