60,000 Ukrainians in occupied territories forcibly mobilized to Russian army

A representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Andriy Cherniak, shared the information on Radio Liberty.

"This is a forced mobilization. The occupiers were catching people on the street and forcefully taking them away from the few working enterprises, giving false promises of placing them on the second or third line, but in reality, they were sent to the front line," said the representative of Ukraine's military intelligence.

Russia is also forcing students from the occupied Ukrainian territories to join its army.

"A person attends class in the morning and just two days later, they find themselves engaged in fighting. As a matter of fact, Russia does not consider the residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions to be human beings, so the occupiers do not care, the laws do not apply. The only real possibility (to survive - ed.) is to surrender immediately, at the first opportunity," said Andriy Chernyak.

• On July 23, Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Vadym Skibitskyi, stated that Russia has mobilization potential that can be utilized if needed. He also pointed out that a significant proportion of Russians want the war to continue.