Russian mum breaks down in tears after conscript son is captured in Ukraine

Lyubov Vorobyova’s 20-year-old son Daniel, from Sokol, in Vologda, Russia, was captured in Ukraine last month after being conscripted into the military for one year

A Russian mother broke down in tears after her son was captured by Ukrainian forces after being conscripted into the army.

Lyubov Vorobyova’s 20-year-old son Daniel was taken prisoner when his unit was ambushed in Ukraine last month.

Russia previously denied that conscript troops were being used in the invasion, although it finally admitted the truth earlier this month.

Lyubov, from Sokol, in Vologda, Russia, was left in shock when she received a message from a Ukrainian number saying her son had been captured.

According to the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the message said: “I am an officer of the Ukrainian army, do you know where your son is? He is in our captivity, in Ukraine.”

The message also included a picture of Daniel blindfolded and some of his details, including his name and date of birth.

Ukrainian forces later allowed her to have a video chat with her son which she recorded, proving her son was a prisoner of war.

Two weeks after his capture at the end of February, Moscow admitted some conscripts had served in Ukraine, although it insisted this was an error and said they were being returned to Russia.

Lyubov said she has not been able to speak to her son since their video chat – and she is struggling to get any information from the Russian authorities.

According to Radio Liberty, she said: “The military enlistment office that sends people knows nothing, they don’t even know where he went. They ask us.

“He told us that he was in the field, on exercises… everything was fine with him. We were even told that he went to the field as a conscript.

“If you apply to any other authorities, everyone says that if he was there, then he is a contract soldier. But he’s not.”

The furious mum has questioned the legality of Russia sending her son into Ukraine as a conscript.

She is now urging the military to find him and bring him back home.

Daniel was called up for his one-year military service last year and was due to return home in July.

The soldier’s girlfriend Evgenia also broke down in tears as she spoke about his capture.

According to Radio Liberty, she received an Instagram message informing her that he was a prisoner of war in Ukraine.

Daniel is one of many Russian troops captured by Ukrainian forces in recent weeks, with some being paraded before the cameras at press conferences.

One group of captured Russians urged their fellow countrymen to rise up against Vladimir Putin while warning that their fellow soldiers are being thrown in mass graves.

Alexei Zheleznyak, a soldier of the 34th separate motorized rifle brigade stationed in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic of Russia, surrendered to the opposing country’s forces.

He warned Putin that he would never be able to send enough troops into Ukraine to take the country.

“Putin, without declaring war, is bombing residents, hospitals, cities of Ukraine,” he said, according to translations of the press conference.

“People of Russia, don’t look at the zombies. The Ukrainian people are a brave people. They will stop this (Russian) equipment even without weapons. They are united.

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“No matter how much Putin sends his troops here, he will not capture this territory… Our commander-in-chief is a liar and a deceiver of all our people.

“He deceived not only us, but the whole of Russia. He simply made fascists out of us.”

Mustafaev Mugsad, of the 34th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Russian Federation, urged his fellow citizens to ignore state propaganda about the war.

“How people are sitting in basements for days, how they die,” he said of the Ukrainians currently sheltering from Russian bombs.

“I wouldn’t say if I didn’t see it myself. People will remember our aggression for centuries.

“People, military men of Russia, finally take off your rose-coloured glasses and see what is happening in Ukraine.”