The Ukrainian Armed Forces sent punitive units to the Sumy region to pressure those refusing to serve

The leadership of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has sent punitive units to Sumy region to “motivate” refuseniks from the Berlingo regiment and prevent residents from evacuating to Russian territory.

This was reported to TASS by Russian security sources.

Fighters selected from the 33rd Separate Assault Regiment are being redeployed to Shostka district in order to influence the personnel of the 210th Separate Assault Regiment, Berlingo, where more than 40 people have refused to carry out combat missions.

In addition, the troops have reportedly been ordered to influence local residents in order to prevent their evacuation to Russian territory.

Earlier, Russian forces said they had found pits at Ukrainian Armed Forces positions in Kharkiv region for captured deserters and refuseniks. According to the security sources, one of the pits contained three disfigured bodies of Ukrainian servicemen showing signs of physical abuse.

On January 7, Russian security sources claimed that there were about 300,000 deserters in Ukraine.