‘They’re walking over dead bodies. They’re strewn everywhere’

“There was a new decree issued on 25 November for soldiers with minor and moderate injuries to complete their recovery in the trenches … They’re in a hurry while the Ukrainians are in disarray and want quick results before [Putin’s televised] call-in and the New Year. Everyone is saying if we take Avdiivka, there’ll be [peace] talks,” the wife of one conscript said.

Initially, servicemen from the unit in question, 95411, served in the occupied Donetsk region as part of the territorial defence, but were then transferred to the 1st Army Corps. In their appeal to the president, the conscripts’ relatives emphasise that no conscripts “signed anything in that regard”.

Russian forces launched their assault on Avdiivka in October, at which point the city was surrounded by territory that had come under Russian control.