Hundreds of military and civilian offenders have been forced into Russian penal units known as 'Storm-Z' squads and sent to Ukraine's frontlines, according to 13 individuals who know the situation, including five combatants.

The soldier, who requested anonymity because he feared prosecution in Russia for discussing the conflict publicly, said he sympathized with the men's plight: "If the commandants capture anyone with the smell of alcohol on their breath, they promptly dispatch them to the Storm squads."

Russia Deploys Storm-Z Squads

Russian state-controlled media has reported that Storm-Z units exist, that they participated in intense combat, and that some of their members were awarded bravery medals. Still, they have not disclosed how they are formed or the number of casualties they sustain.

Reuters is the first news agency to construct a comprehensive account of how squads are assembled and deployed, based on interviews with multiple sources with direct knowledge of the events.

All thirteen interviewees, including four relatives of Storm-Z members and three soldiers in regular units who interacted with the squads, requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals, as did the soldier from unit 40318.

Ukraine unleashed cluster munitions - prohibited in more than 100 countries - at a Russian village, a governor claims. According to soldiers, the Kremlin has been deploying convicts and drunk soldiers to the most hazardous areas of the frontline and considering them as "just meat." 

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Punishment Battalions

People interrogated stated that the units also include convicts who volunteer to fight in exchange for the promise of clemency and regular soldiers who have committed disciplinary violations.

The Storm-Z squads are advantageous to the Russian Ministry of Defense because they can be deployed as expendable infantry, according to the Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent organization monitoring the conflict.

The group, founded in Russia, told Reuters, "The Storm combatants have been sent to the most perilous areas of the front, both in defense and in attack."

While the Russian defense ministry has never confirmed the formation of Storm-Z units, the first reports of their existence surfaced in April, when the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, cited what appeared to be a compromised Russian military report on the formation of the battalions.

Reuters could not ascertain the total number of soldiers serving in the units, but interviews with individuals familiar with the situation indicate that at least several hundred Storm-Z combatants are presently deployed to the frontline.

At the time of his June mutiny, the late leader of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, stated that approximately 25,000 soldiers were embroiled in the conflict.

On Friday, President Vladimir Putin mentioned prisoners serving in the regular army.

During a televised meeting with a small group of regular Russian servicemen, he acknowledged that two of their formerly incarcerated compatriots had been slain in action, as per Daily Mail.

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