Raw recruits called up to fight in Russian-backed separatist region

Men gather at a military mobilization point in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine February 23, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Andrey, 21, had never held a gun before this week. It came as a shock when he received a phone call telling him he had been called up for military duty.

Two days later, he was sitting on a bus on his way to join an artillery unit of the Donetsk People's Republic, one of two breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin formally recognised on Monday and brought under Moscow's protection.