Russia’s Chaotic Draft Leaves Some Without Gear

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his army mobilization for the war in Ukraine, independent media outlets, human rights activists and draftees themselves have painted a bleak picture. They describe a haphazard, chaotic and ethnically biased effort to round up as many men as possible and push them quickly to the front, regardless of skill or training. The reservists included men without any military experience, some of whom were also unfit for service for medical reasons. There were shortages of gear, with outdated weapons handed out, and squalid living quarters awaited draftees at training camps. One analyst says the hasty call-up will hardly achieve anything other than “slowing down the advances” of Ukrainian troops,