More than a dozen women in Russia's Republic of Buryatia have recorded a video statement urging the head of the Siberian region to recall their husbands from Ukraine where they are serving with the Russian armed forces.
One of the women, Vera Partilkhayeva, told RFE/RL on June 28 that the women's husbands were deployed in what were officially called military drills in January. But since February, they have been taking part in what Russian officials call the "special military operation" in Ukraine.
"Since February 24, they have been taking part in the special operation. They have been exhausted both morally and physically. All of them have suffered light- and medium-level contusions," the women said in the video statement, adding that many of the men were sick due to their living conditions.
Partilkhayeva wrote on her social network accounts that region head Aleksei Tsydenov will be personally responsible for every death of local residents in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
According to her, the video statement was recorded by the wives of military personnel of the Fifth Tank Brigade of Tatsin. At least 30 officers and soldiers of that military unit have been confirmed killed in Ukraine.
The exact number of Russian troops killed in Ukraine in more than four months of the war remains unknown.
Ukrainian authorities claim that more than 35,000 Russian troops have been killed, while the Russian Defense Ministry last commented on the subject in March, saying that 1,351 of its personnel had died.