First images surfaced of conscripts saying goodbye to their families in Russia | War Ukraine and Russia

The images were shot in Neryungri, a city in the south of the Russian Autonomous Republic of Yakutia, and distributed by the independent Siberian news channel Taiga.info.

The video material shows how men, women and children hug each other and the men, packed and lowered, board the waiting buses at the covered Gornyak Stadium. Some wipe away tears. Other images show a heavy crowd at the military registration and recruiting office in Shilka.

Official documents show that reservists are not allowed to leave their place of residence and region, even if they have not (yet) been called up. That does not seem superfluous, because long traffic jams are forming in Buryatia, at the border crossing with Mongolia, among other things.

Partial mobilization has also started in Novosibirsk – Russia’s third largest city. According to estimates by Taiga.info, 12,500 reservists would be called in there.

Remarkably, despite the partial mobilization, Russia still does not want to call the situation in Ukraine a war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said it is still a “special military operation”.

Normally, a country that (partially) mobilizes is preparing for war. In Russia, however, it is still an offense to talk about the ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ in Ukraine. The last time Russia mobilized was at the beginning of World War II.