Young Russian conscripts complain they have been given 1940s guns and are suffering heavy losses against Ukraine
Student conscripts seen wearing oversized helmets and wielding 1940s guns
'We've been given automatic rifles to take on Grads, artillery, mortars', one says
One quarter of Russia's army are conscripts aged 18-27 - often from poor homes
Putin had promised not to send untrained recruits onto front lines in Ukraine
Follows reports of Russian 'execution squads' used to kill desperate deserters
This is the moment a group of young Russian soldiers conscripted to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine finally lose it.
One complains: 'Know the truth! The Russian Ministry of Defence has no idea about us, or what we’re doing here.
The boys, who are reportedly members of the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, filmed themselves in the back of a lorry near Sumy, close to the border with Russia.
One lad in a Russian army helmet too big for his head points to himself and says, 'I'm 18 years old.'
He then holds up his AK-47 machine gun - first issued to Soviet soldiers in 1947 - and complains, 'We’ve been given automatic rifles to take on Grads, artillery, mortar shells.
'We're asking you to spread this.'
Sumy has been the scene of intense fighting in recent days, with chilling drone footage showing the sheer scale of destruction.
President Putin vowed not to send young, untrained conscripts to the frontlines of the war in Ukraine - but has since broken his promise.
One quarter of Russia's army is made up of conscripts aged 18-27, disproportionately from poorer backgrounds where families are unable to obtain legal letters or doctors' notes excusing their sons from battle.
Earlier this month, a group of Russian conscripts captured by Ukraine said they were deceived into believing the war was a military training exercise and apologised for behaving 'like fascists'.
Moscow youngster Aleksandr Morozov, 22, said: 'Ukrainians are a strong people, they fight like beasts.
'Their aircraft shatters our columns utterly. Our side suffers great losses: technicians, sergeants, officers, soldiers. And we want to stop that.
'I want to apologize to the whole of Ukraine for coming here. I do not want violence in this country. I am very ashamed.'
New conscripts are often tortured and even raped as part of brutal initiations dating back hundreds of years.
The army's culture of hazing (known as 'dedovshchina') involves using physical and psychological abuse to 'toughen' young recruits.
In 2019 alone there were 51,000 recorded cases of human rights violations among young conscripts - and 9,890 sexual assaults, according to the Russian defence ministry.
In addition to morale-drained Russian forces, Putin has drafted in mercenary Wagner fighters from Syria and Africa in an effort to 'turn the tide' in Ukraine.
Russian army messages intercepted by the Ukrainian army also suggest Russian forces are fighting low morale, with many suffering from frostbite and supply shortages.
One Pentagon document described soldiers simply parking their vehicles and walking away from the war into woods.
Russia admitted last week that 9,861 Russian troops had been killed and 16,153 injured.
Kyiv estimates the Russian death toll to be closer to 17,000.
Around 15,000 Russian troops died during the Soviet Union's ten-year war in Afghanistan following the 1979 invasion.
Meanwhile, Kyiv's ministry of defence said yesterday Russia has been forced to withdraw units surrounding the capital after major losses.
The withdrawal has 'significantly decreased' the intensity of the advance on the city as Putin's troops regroup in Belarus, deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said.
Those still trying to advance on Kyiv are still trying to seize major roads and settlements in the northeast and northwest of the city, but are being held back.
Malyar added: 'As of today, the enemy is regrouping its forces, but they cannot advance anywhere in Ukraine.'
Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin said the offer to reduce some military operations was a confidence building step for the ongoing negotiations with Ukrainian officials in Istanbul.
'In order to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and achieving the ultimate goal of agreeing and signing (an) agreement, a decision was made to radically, by a large margin, reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions,' Fomin said.
But he made no mention of other areas that have seen heavy fighting, including around Mariupol in the southeast, Sumy and Kharkiv in the east and Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south.
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