Russia is sending alcoholics from rehabilitation centres to the front line in Ukraine, a soldier claimed.
An unnamed Russian serviceman described a stream of new arrivals to his unit – many of them older, physically unfit and struggling with alcohol dependency – in recent video footage.
He claimed that the men were rounded up at a facility in Petrozavodsk, close to the border with Finland, by “black recruiters” who confiscated their bank cards and drained their accounts of money.
In an expletive-laden and offensive rant, he said of his newly staffed unit: “They f---ing recruited a bunch of cripples who can’t even f---ing walk on top of being mentally unwell.
“I saw it myself – from Petrozavodsk, from Karelia, they recruited these f---ing guys from rehab, f---ing drunks.”
The soldier said there were around 30 unfit soldiers in his unit of 40.
The “black recruiters” refer to informal or illegal intermediaries who sign up men for military service through coercion, deception, or outright fraud, often operating alongside or in the shadows of the official recruitment system.
The soldier’s claims are the latest in a series of accusations that Russia has relied on coercion and manipulation to recruit soldiers physically or mentally unfit for combat.
These claims encompass men with serious illnesses, mental disabilities, and foreign recruits who were allegedly pressured or deceived into joining the ranks.
Taken together, Ukrainian officials say the pattern points to a strategy in which Moscow is increasingly dependent on vulnerable recruits, deploying large numbers of troops to secure gains on the front line regardless of the human cost.
Russian military losses in Ukraine exceeded the number of new recruits in January by approximately 9,000 soldiers, according to the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre (USCC).
“Given the situation, Russia has indeed been actively recruiting vulnerable groups, including people with various addictions, the unemployed, the ill, and former prisoners, and has also been using different methods to recruit migrants from other countries into its armed forces,” said Oksana Kuzan, co-founder and head of the analytical department of the USCC.
Ms Kuzan added that Russian propagandists themselves had indicated that the Kremlin set recruitment quotas for contract soldiers at the regional level, and that local officials often send almost anyone to the front with little regard for suitability.
The USCC reported that many men are forced to sign contracts while intoxicated, something also asserted by Russian war bloggers.
They claim that men’s signatures are often forged, or they are coerced into joining by being forced to choose between military service and one of Russia’s notoriously harsh prisons.
Recruiters are often paid bonuses for enlisting men, regardless of their fitness for combat, making marginalised people particularly vulnerable. Many recruiters are under pressure to meet targets for the number of men they enlist.
“What’s up with that guy? How does he manage to get around? Even if he does make it there, he won’t even be able to [fight], you know? And it’s like, ‘just let him get there’,” said the soldier in the video clip.
According to the soldier, commanders show little concern for the recruits’ condition, sending them into assault operations regardless, “just to make it there”.
Those who refused to go were beaten and have their injuries worsened, he added.
Russia is also accused of recruiting soldiers infected with HIV, hepatitis, and other diseases, who are reportedly deployed in segregated units and required to wear armbands identifying their illnesses.
Last year, sources within the military shared research with The Telegraph documenting five cases that they claimed revealed Russia’s willingness to send disabled or diseased soldiers into combat.
Waves of Russian soldiers are often sent into battle underprepared, with video footage showing them with no helmets or armour.
To replace the waves of men lost in “meat-grinder” assaults, Russia is thought to have lured thousands of Africans to the front lines, either under false pretences or with promises of hefty salaries.
“It can be assumed that as Russian military losses in the war against Ukraine increase, and the number of contract soldiers declines, the activity of such ‘black recruiters’ will also intensify,” said Ms Kuzan.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/26/russia-sending-alcoholics-rehab-centres-ukraine-front-line/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_youtube_rehab-centres-ukraine-front-line%2F
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