Putin ordered the partial mobilisation of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine in September. Photo: Alexei Babushkin/Kremlin/dpa
It's not possible for Viktorija to forget about the war in Ukraine these days, even though she lives in a small flat near Moscow.
Her brother was called up to fight by the Russian army, directly from his workplace in the Rostov region, in south-western Russia on the Sea of Azov.
"He is supposed to be fighting in the Donbas, what a nightmare," Viktoria says. "I can't sleep at all."
The 37-year-old is not only fearful for her brother but also her husband. She and Andrei have a son who is 18 months old. The draft board in the Rostov region, where Andrei is still registered, is already looking for him.
Many other couples in Russia find themselves in a similar situation. Nationwide, women with small children are sharing their stories on social media or posting complaints in forums of the authorities.
Many of the women don't know how they will survive if their partner doesn't return from Ukraine and often wind up spending the last of their savings on gear to protect their husbands in the war.
Demand is soaring for bullet-proof vests, for example, but they are hard to get hold of and expensive.
Women describe spending all the money they have to buy backpacks, medicines, thermal underwear and warm socks.
Meanwhile, among the men sent to fight, videos circulating on social media show the recruits' anger. One depicts a group of men, surrounding a speaker who appeals to the authorities to take action so that loans are not called in.
Another video shows a group of men standing near a Russian state railway train, grumbling that there are no marching rations.
A further group is being told by a woman in uniform to take tampons with them to treat bullet wounds. First aid kits are also in short supply.
Some reservists complain they were not even given a helmet or a weapon.
"They gave clothes, shoes, a gas mask and a spade," Alexei tells istories.media, an independent website.He spent his own money buying a sleeping bag, a sleeping mat and army boots for the winter.
With the sudden surge in demand since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the partial mobilisation of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine in September, shops and online outlets selling military and outdoor supplies are all reporting they have run out of stocks.
Nationwide, unrest has grown to the extent that even governors and members of parliament have started to intervene because of the problems with mobilisation.
Lawmaker Andrei Gurulyov, a member of the Defence Committee, was dismayed to find that 1.5 million sets of personal equipment had disappeared, with no word of explanation as to where.
Putin fired Dmitry Bulgakov, the deputy defence minister responsible for equipping the armed forces, but Gurulyov notes this does not explain "why the draftees are not getting uniforms".
Governors are now buying their own binoculars and night-vision devices for the draftees, sometimes bypassing the Defence Ministry's budget.
Leading lawmaker Leonid Sluzki has slammed the situation as a "disgrace". Sometimes, soldiers do not even have ammunition or weapons.
Moreover, draftees complain that the pay they were promised for fighting – between 100,000 and 300,000 roubles (RM7,659 and RM22,976) depending on the region – is late or never arrives.
While hundreds of thousands have fled Russia to avoid being drafted, many others are resigned to their fate.
Some Russians are determined to fight for Putin's goals in Ukraine. But many are serving only because they do not see alternatives, either by fleeing or going to prison.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged Russian draftees not to sacrifice themselves as "cannon fodder" for Putin, telling them instead they should surrender at the front and go into captivity voluntarily.
For now, many are simply paralysed by fear, hardly daring to go out on the streets. The authorities say CCTV that is in use in many areas in Russia will now be used to root out conscientious objectors.
In Moscow, the streets, restaurants and fitness clubs are noticeably emptier than before the partial mobilisation, as is public life in general.
Worse still is the growing number of reports of conscripts who barely arrived at the front and have already died.
Even Russian state media responded with horror when it emerged that a senior civil servant working for the Moscow city government had been sent to Ukraine without any combat experience. Alexei Martynov, 28, was called up on Sept 23 and died on the front line on Oct 10.
A journalist close to the Kremlin asked Putin at a press conference how that could be, while also pointing to the rising death toll overall.
But Putin did not comment on the men from across Russia who are now returning home in coffins.
Instead, he stressed that 220,000 of the planned 300,000 reservists had already been called up and said tens of thousands have already joined their units at the front.
Conceding that mistakes were made, the Russian president said that the preparatory phases for deployment in the combat zone had to be observed and emphasised again that the conscripts will primarily be deployed to secure the 1,100km front line in Ukraine.
But since it seems unlikely that that front line is going to be secure any time soon, many Russians are convinced further call-ups will follow. – dpa
