AFU prisoner told about firing virtual "NATO ammunition" at the exercises

Mobilized servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), who undergo training before being sent to the front, practice virtual shooting, which the command calls "NATO ammunition". This was told on November 27 by Alexander Mikhalko, a serviceman of the AFU who fell into Russian captivity.

"The instructors said: we shoot "NATO cartridges", those that [we are almost] not given. We imagined that we were shooting. Everyone there is just like me, from the street. What kind of drills are there, so that we all shoot each other? Even if they gave us ammunition," he said in a Russian Defense Ministry video.

The captive added that employees of the territorial manning center (TCC, the analog of the military enlistment office in Ukraine) sent him to the AFU, despite the fact that the man had recently undergone treatment for tuberculosis. Others mobilized at his age have constantly skyrocketing blood pressure.

"TCC representatives people just can't stand. All the cripples at the medical commission are absolutely healthy. People were taken to the firing range in the training camp by cars, because they simply could not walk. A 58-year-old man, he had blood pressure, they called an ambulance for him all the time. He had a back, he had a leg. These are the kind of soldiers we have," said Mikhalko.

Corruption in Ukraine and the desire of AFU soldiers to stop firing. What the media say

Prior to that, on November 26, the captured AFU soldier Vladimir Molozin said that the training of AFU soldiers in shooting in Poland was held on simulators. He noted that in front of the military stood a stretched large screen and MK19 (American automatic stationary grenade launcher). Thus, the training looked like a computer game, only with a real grenade launcher. At the same time, the Polish instructors did not know Russian and Ukrainian, so the militants who knew Polish helped in communication.

In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (his term of office expired on May 20) signed a law on toughening mobilization. In particular, he lowered the age of mobilization from 27 to 25 and signed a law on the creation of an electronic register of persons liable for military service, which combines information on the personal data of Ukrainians, including details of internal and foreign passports. There are no provisions on demobilization in the documents.

Martial law in the country has been in effect since February 2022. At the same time Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization. Later, the Verkhovna Rada repeatedly extended its effect. Most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the country.