Russian draftees in the country’s Perm region have been given “protection candles” instead of much-needed equipment and told to light them in the heat of battle to “cast out evil spirits.”
“This is some fucked-up shit. I’m more and more astonished by these gags. They gave such candles to everyone in the squadron. What jackass is going to light this in battle, this candle of protection? They somehow can’t issue new uniforms or combat boots on time, but distributing candles is no problem,” one soldier told local outlet Perm 36,6.
A photo he provided of one of the candles in question shows that it came with instructions featuring the Russian Orthodox cross and advice to “light the candle in battle” in order to dispel fear and make bullets “not scary.”
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The instructions also unironically featured the pro-war slogan, “We don’t abandon our own.”
Other men called up to fight in Ukraine from the region also recently complained of being issued uniforms that smell “like they were pulled off corpses and given to us.”
Russian troops have routinely complained of equipment and weapons shortages since the start of the full-scale war, and some have publicly appealed directly to President Vladimir Putin in a publicity nightmare for the Kremlin.
Just last weekend, several troops in the Donetsk region released a damning video appeal saying they were facing execution by their own army after their brigade suffered staggering losses.
“They’re not letting us go anywhere at all,” one soldier said of military brass, who he said had installed anti-retreat units to shoot them dead if they tried to retreat.
“We were threatened with execution if we don’t go forward… They want to destroy us on the way out as witnesses of the negligent criminal leadership,” he said.
In recent weeks, troops across the entire country have also complained they’re being stiffed on payments they were promised by the Defense Ministry.
“My husband was called up on Oct. 21, 2022… He’s asking about payment, but they are only making promises. The commanders say to wait, but there’s no money already for two months,” the wife of one soldier told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. “I have a young child, a mortgage, and no relatives.”
