Ukraine is claiming to have destroyed 40% of the forces Russia pre-staged around its border and used in its invasion, and says its enemy is using "barrier" — or rear-guard — troops to execute deserters.
The Ukraine General Staff posted the claims on its Facebook page Tuesday, also saying Russia is hiring mercenaries to fight. It suggested the information at least partially came from Russian soldiers captured during the fighting.
One solder told his Ukrainian interrogators that he initially was told he would be part of a "peacekeeping" mission but realized early on he was part of an invasion.
"We were told that we can't go back because there are echelons following us that kill deserters that want to go home," the Ukraine Foreign Intelligence Service quoted the soldier on its Telegram social media account.
Reports indicated 150,000 Russian troops were staged along the border with Ukraine and along the Belarus border to the north prior to the start of combat on Feb. 24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his daily press conference on Saturday, claimed that many Russian soldiers do not want to fight.
A total of "500, 600 people willingly gave themselves up. Many ran, many are hiding in abandoned buildings, and some are trying to get back to Russia. It's a little chaotic there," he said.
The FIS said another captured soldier told them that Russia also is using alternative service members — military personnel who previously were excluded from combat positions because of inadequate health, conscientious objections, political or other reasons.
"I managed to become a soldier, a war criminal and then a prisoner of war all in one month," he said according to the FIS.
Additionally, Russia is pressing civilians from the captured areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, two territories Russia recognized as "independent republics" immediately before the invasion, into military service, according to reports from the Eastern Human Rights Group and its leader Pavlo Lysansky.
"A third wave of forced mobilization of local residents is on the way," he wrote on his Facebook page. "People are hiding. The leaders of the republics are in a state of panic. There's no-one left to be mobilized."
Lysansky also posted screenshots of text messages the residents of the republic were receiving.
"Men from the ages of 18-55 are required to serve in our 'elite' fighting force. Full social benefits are included," read one message.
The governor of the southern region of Mykolaiv noted the reports in his daily address to his constituents on Saturday.
"From LNR/DNR (Donetsk and Luhansk), regular people. They have been forcefully taken here. They are not warriors … they say 'we want to go home, we'd walk but the barrier troops are in the rear,' " he said.
The reports from Ukraine come as the British Ministry of Defense also reported on Tuesday that Russia is adjusting troop movements and recruiting foreign fighters.
"Russia is redeploying forces from as far afield as its Eastern Military District, Pacific fleet and Armenia. It is also increasingly seeking to exploit irregular sources such as Private Military Companies, Syrian and other mercenaries," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.