• Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with mothers of reservist soldiers called to fight in Ukraine.
• Some reservists are being held against their will in a basement for refusing to go back to the front.

In response to ongoing complaints about mobilization issues, the Kremlin has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet this week with the mothers of reservist soldiers called to fight in Ukraine.

“Indeed, such a meeting is planned, we can confirm,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

“The president often holds such meetings, they are not all public. In any case, the president receives first-hand information about the real state of affairs.”

Peskov did not provide a specific date for Putin’s meeting with the mothers of the reservists.

On November 7, Putin offered an update on his order to increase military conscription, stating that 50,000 of the recently conscripted soldiers had already arrived in Ukraine.

The front lines have since reported a large range of grievances, including a lack of leadership from mid-ranking officers, heavy casualty tactics, a lack of training, and unpaid promises.

Additionally, soldiers, their families, and Russian military bloggers noted logistical issues like a shortage of uniforms, subpar food, and medical supplies.

According to relatives quoted by the independent Russian news outlet Astra Telegram, 300 mobilized Russians are being imprisoned in a basement in Zaitsevo, in the Luhansk region, for refusing to go back to the front lines.

One woman said her husband had told her: “New people are constantly brought in. They are in a large basement in the House of Culture in Zaitsevo.

They feed them once a day: One dry ration to share between five to six people. They constantly threaten them.”

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