“I don't need this meat.” These Russian soldiers fled Izyum in Ukraine, refused to fight, but were sent back to the frontlines during mobilization
Art by Boris Khmelny / Mediazona When 19-year-old conscript Sergey Chizhikov enlisted in the contract army this summer, he was promised he'll be sent to defend the “liberated territories.” But in early September he found himself in Izyum, which he had to flee when the Ukrainian offense in the Kharkiv region began. Soldiers wandered in the woods for a week, the army command refused to take them back in, but they weren't let back into Russia either and told to go back and fight.