- A group of family members traveled to a military base seeking the return of the men, whom they say were injured in the fighting, according to Russian media
- The report comes after Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu called on his troops to withdraw from Kherson, in a major setback for Russia
A Russian conscript bids farewell to his relatives at a railway station in Sevastopol, Crimea on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE
The wives of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine showed up at the border and demanded to take their husbands home, the independent Russian news outlet The Insider reported.
A group of around 20 relatives traveled to a military base in the Russian town of Valuiki on Wednesday night, the outlet reported. Valuiki is around 50km (30 miles) from Kharkiv Oblast in Ukraine.
The group, which mostly consisted of women, called for their husbands to be taken out of Ukraine, claiming they had been wounded fighting on the front line, The Insider said. (The Insider is a Russian news outlet and has no affiliation with Business Insider.)
“I’m ready to tear them apart,” one of the women told officials at the military base, per The Insider. “They have to do something, they have to make a decision, they have to get them out of there.”
“We want them to be taken away from there because there are many wounded,” she added.
Another relative said that if officials were unable to help them, she would go to the front herself to rescue the soldiers, The Insider reported, citing a separate report published on the Telegram channel of the independent Russian news outlet Verstka.
It is unclear whether the women received the answers they were looking for. Verstka reported that officials were helping the women track down their husbands.
Business Insider was unable to independently verify these reports.
The report comes after Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu called on his troops to withdraw from Kherson, the first major city and the only regional capital in Ukraine captured by Russia since the beginning of its invasion in February.
That announcement marked one of the most significant setbacks for Russia so far in its war in Ukraine.
Top US general Mark Milley estimated on Wednesday that more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been “killed and wounded” since Russia invaded Ukraine, Reuters reported.
It is unclear where he received the figures. Reuters and Business Insider did not independently verify the numbers.