Russia is sending people with mental health issues and serious illnesses to the front line of the war in Ukraine

A terrifying image circulating from the front line in Ukraine shows a wounded man standing in a muddy ditch, stripped of his military uniform. His weakened body can barely stand, while his protruding ribs are visible beneath his military identification plate. He can barely articulate words — and according to Ukrainian authorities, he is one of the many soldiers with mental health issues that Russia is allegedly sending to the front line.

According to a report by The Telegraph, Ukrainian sources say this is a new strategy by Moscow that demonstrates a growing reliance on vulnerable recruits and a readiness to exploit human resources regardless of the consequences or the number of casualties.

“Russia will never run out of people,” said a member of the Ukrainian defense forces named Ana (name changed for security reasons). “If they lose a man every 10 meters but achieve progress, they will do it. For them, the lives of the poor are worthless,” she added.

Soldiers with disabilities and mental health issues on the front line

Military-political expert Dmytro Zhmailo, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation (USCC), said this is not an isolated case but part of a systematic pattern.

“Due to the lack of troops and heavy losses, Russia is recruiting citizens regardless of their physical or mental health,” Zhmailo said.

A Ukrainian commander, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that they have identified at least two cases of Russians with mental disabilities sent to war, in addition to those documented by the USCC.

One of them was Semyon Karmanov, 27, who could neither read nor write and had the diagnosis of “intellectual disability with behavioral disorders requiring continuous care.” Nevertheless, the prison medical commission declared him “fit for military service.” From prison, he was sent to a training camp in occupied Luhansk, where he received his military booklet with the duty of “driver” – although he had never driven. He was killed on the front line this autumn.

Another case is that of Aleksei Vakhrushev, 22, from western Russia, who had spent most of his life under psychiatric care. Despite a medical certificate declaring him unfit for service, the police forced him to sign a military contract. After an attempt to flee the front line, he was sent back into battle — and his fate remains unknown.

Videos are circulating on social media showing captured Russian soldiers who do not understand where they are and are unable to communicate, which, according to Ukrainian authorities, clearly demonstrates the use of disabled individuals as “cannon fodder.”

Zhmailo also mentioned the case of Artyom Radaev, 22, who had been disabled since childhood but was sent to the front by the Russian 4th Motorized Brigade. He disappeared after a few days, and his mother later recognized him in a photo where Russian soldiers were tied to trees as punishment for refusing orders.

Another, Oleg Volkov (23), with a psychiatric diagnosis since childhood, was forced to sign a military contract after being caught stealing a box of wine. On his first day in Ukraine, he hid in terror in an electrical substation, where he was later captured. His fate is also unknown.

“Recruits die immediately upon arrival”

A Russian soldier from the “Espanyola” unit, fighting near the city of Chasiv Yar, admitted in a video that many of the new recruits die immediately upon arrival at the front.

“They recruit people who know nothing. Millions are spent on them, but as soon as they arrive, they die. Out of 70 people in my unit, only six remain,” he said. “We are already driving over corpses — there is no other way.”

“The Kremlin does not see soldiers as people”

Ana, the member of the Ukrainian military, emphasized that the high number of Russian casualties does not automatically mean Ukraine is winning.

“For us, every soldier is a life. For Putin, every soldier is simply a means to an end. They worry more about American sanctions than about losing 500,000 people,” she said.

According to her, the war is no longer a matter of military capability but of numbers: “The Kremlin sees the infantryman not as a person, but as a consumable commodity.”

Colonel Oleksandr Zavtonov from Ukraine’s 30th Marine Corps, fighting in the Kherson direction, speaks to the same issue.

“The attacks are incessant, day after day, month after month. From radio intercepts, we often hear Russian soldiers refusing to attack, but their commanders are completely indifferent,” he explains.

Zavtonov concludes by saying that, even though the attacks are not always massive, their goal is to exhaust Ukrainian forces.

“The enemy knows no limit to the price of human lives. To the civilized world, this looks like cannibalistic tactics, but for Russians, it is the norm. They always fight this way — with no regard for human life,” he said.