Jan. 3, 2026, 12:05 p.m.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Russian commanders in the Kherson sector are withholding payments and throwing soldiers into "pits" for refusing to go on assaults.
This was reported by the Atesh guerrilla movement.
According to the report, Atesh agents from the 205th separate motorized rifle brigade record a systematic scheme of pressure from commanders. They deprive soldiers of payments and the status of combatants under the article"Desertion," as well as bonuses for refusing to go on pre-destructive assaults.
According to the guerrillas, fighters who do not agree to join the attacks are forcibly sent to "pits" - improvised open-air punishment cells - without communication, sleep or access to medical care.
Before each assault, the military are told: "If you don't want to, write a report and forget about the money."
Those who do not comply have their bank cards taken away, their payments blocked through the financial department, and are placed in "no mission" status. After that, most agree to go on the attack, the guerrillas say.
It is reported that at some positions, the punishment cells have been doubled, and the price of refusal is a day in the mud under guard and a forced assault without the right to choose. The command calls it "motivation".
"Inside the units, they do not believe in promises or orders. People dream of only one thing - to survive and get out of there at any cost," the guerrilla movement said.
"Atesh (Crimean Tatar for "fire") is a military guerrilla movement operating in Crimea and the occupied territories, founded by Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in 2022 to sabotage the Russian occupation and aid the Ukrainian Armed Forces by gathering intelligence, sabotage and disorientation of the enemy.
Recently, Atesh guerrillas carried out a sabotage on the railroad near Simferopol. As a result, the movement of trains supplying the occupiers in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia directions with equipment, fuel and ammunition stopped.
Ірина Глухова