A volunteer working for Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces in Ukraine made a public call for body bags in a video she posted online.
"If anyone could help purchasing bags for corpses, they are really badly needed right now. I've no f****** idea where to get them," the female volunteer said in the clip.
WarTranslated, an independent media project that translates materials about the war into English, shared the woman's video on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday. Newsweek could not independently verify the video and contacted Russia's Ministry of Defense via email for comment.
No information was provided by WarTranslated about when the video was recorded or what kind of work the volunteer does in Putin's forces, though she wears combat-style camouflage clothing. According to the project, the footage was recorded in the village of Andriivka in the Donetsk region, which has been the site of intense fighting in recent weeks.
"Please help, buy the bags if you can. They're badly needed. There's a horrible deficit in Donetsk," the volunteer said.
From Kyiv in 3 days to a "deficit in body bags in Donetsk": Russian volunteer urgently needs help with purchasing corpse bags for soldiers currently assaulting in Avdiivka. They also need food, but this must only come in closed packages, because "you don't know if someone's going... pic.twitter.com/w6x00g69y5
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) October 13, 2023
The female speaker, whose name was not given, added a request for other supplies, which contained a warning that hinted someone could sabotage food if it's not properly sealed.
"Also, if anyone could help with clothes and food," she said, per WarTranslated's rephrasing. "Food should only be in closed packages just in case that no one could add or spoil it in some way, you know what I mean."
She also referenced the heavy amount of wounded soldiers Russia has suffered from conflicts in the Donetsk region.
"Let's help, let's provide strong assistance now to the guys in hospitals, there's loads of them, really loads, and they really need the help right now," the volunteer said.
Though small, Andriivka—which sits approximately 56 miles south of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region—is considered to be a symbolically and tactically important settlement due to its railroad lines and its location on the front lines of the war.
Russian forces have recently been unleashing heavy artillery fire on Andriivka, and Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported earlier this week that officials in the area said Putin's troops appeared to be attempting to encircle the village, which Kyiv announced last month had been recaptured from Russian control.
Despite the efforts by Russia's forces, the Institute for the Study of War think tank reported earlier this week that Moscow did not make any "claimed or confirmed" advances in the area around Andriivka or nearby village Klishchiivka.
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Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
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