Horrifying moment 'Russian conscript' asks friend to break his arm with a SLEDGEHAMMER 'so he can avoid signing up to fight on Ukraine frontline'
- WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Footage allegedly shows man breaking his arm
- He appears to ask his friend to smash a sledgehammer on his arm
- Kremlin officials have warned against conscripts injuring themselves
- Read more: Putin's 'Dad's Army': Ageing reservists line up to go to war
Gruesome footage from Russia allegedly shows a friend breaking the arm of a Russian reservist with a sledgehammer so he cannot be sent to the front lines of the Ukraine war.
Kremlin officials have warned against conscripts mutilating themselves or asking others to break their bones after Putin imposed partial mobilisation last week to bolster his troops on the ground.
While some reacted by immediately fleeing the country, others resorted to drastic measures and tried to injure themselves to avoid the horrors of war.
Gruesome footage from Russia allegedly shows a friend breaking the arm of a Russian reservist with a sledgehammer
Kremlin officials have warned against conscripts mutilating themselves or asking others to break their bones
The video shows a man wielding a long-handled sledgehammer which he appears to smash into the arm of the would-be mobilised reservist.
The draftee holds his left arm out on a bench, and covers his face with his other hand as the heavy blow is struck.
After the hit he gets up and swears while hanging his arm down limp, while the friend who struck him vanishes.
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The man who struck him is then heard saying: 'Kolyan, is everything all right? F***, yeah?'
A woman's voice says: 'Why did he run away?'
The draftee says: 'He promised to strike me.'
Two women then inspect his limp arm as one asks: ' Was it hard? [But] did he fail to break your arm?'
After the hit he gets up and swears while hanging his arm down limp, while the friend who struck him vanishes
It is not clear in the end if the arm was broken by the heavy-looking blow nor whether any injury saved him from being called up to Putin's army
The sledgehammer man is heard asking: 'What do you mean? I didn't…..?'
It is not clear in the end if the arm was broken by the heavy-looking blow nor whether any injury saved him from being called up to Putin's army.
Other Russian men are seeking to flee their homeland to countries as far afield as Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
After a counteroffensive by Ukraine this month dealt Moscow's forces heavy battlefield setbacks, Russia said it would call up 300,000 reservists to join the fight.
It also warned it could resort to nuclear weapons.
That partial mobilization is deeply unpopular in some areas, however, triggering protests, scattered violence, and Russians fleeing the country by the tens of thousands.
Humiliating photos show how Putin has resorted to sending a 'Dad's Army' of ageing reservists to the Ukrainian front lines in the latest embarrassment to the Kremlin
People arriving from Russia wait at the Mongolian border checkpoint of Altanbulag as they flee conscription
Relatives and taxi drivers wait for Russian tourists crossing over to Georgia from Verkhni Lars customs checkpoint
The borders with Kazakhstan and Mongolia have been overwhelmed an influx of Russian nationals
The mass exodus has created miles-long lines for days at some borders, and local Russian authorities on one area along the border with Georgia said they would start providing food, water, warming stations and other aid to those in line.
Moscow also reportedly set up draft offices at borders to intercept some of those trying to leave.
The mobilization prompted the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to warn Americans in Russia to leave immediately because 'Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals' U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service.'
Previous embassy security alerts issued during the war also advised Americans to leave.
Ukraine's military and Western analysts said Russia is sending troops with hardly any training to the front line.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, cited an online video by a man who identified himself as a member of Russia's 1st Tank Regiment, visibly upset, saying he and his colleagues wouldn't receive training before shipping out to Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region.
'Mobilized men with a day or two of training are unlikely to meaningfully reinforce Russian positions affected by Ukrainian counteroffensives in the south and east,' the institute said.
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