The press service of the head of Mari El deleted the news with his promise to solve the problems of the mobilized soldiers. The fact was shared by Mari Reporter on March 9.
On March 3, a group of mobilized men from Mari El published a video message to Vladimir Putin made in Lisichansk. Their regiment had been disbanded by the command. The soldiers claimed they were assigned to the Luhansk military and sent to the front line with changed military specialties. Consequently, they suffered heavy losses in dead and wounded.
On March 9, the press service of the Mari El leader, Yuri Zaitsev, announced that he had met with the soldiers' relatives and promised to solve the issues they faced. This was also reported by local media outlets. However, the news was later deleted from various platforms without explanation, except for remaining in the cache.
Since February, online videos have been circulating of mobilized men complaining about their transfer to the DPR (the Donetsk People’s Republic) assault brigades without proper training, which resulted in multiple deaths and injuries. At least six such videos have been recorded by servicemen from eight regions of Russia, with the first complaints from Tyva soldiers.
Four video appeals were made to Putin by soldiers from the Irkutsk region. Local officials, who visited the DPR after their complaints, confirmed that the military personnel were indeed on the front lines.
