Russian soldiers are reportedly being subjected to horrific torture as punishment for deserting their posts in the Ukraine conflict. These alarming revelations come as the beleaguered Russian military employs a variety of tactics to bolster its ranks, including recruitment drives in prisons and homeless shelters, while Moscow continues to escalate its assault on Ukraine. In May, a chilling video surfaced showing Russian troops brutally torturing their own comrades near the frontlines for "letting down" the nation during an offensive against Ukraine. The latest reports once again highlight the terrifying extremes members of Vladimir Putin's military will resort to in order to discipline their fellow soldiers. "Hide him somewhere [while the fighting is ongoing] then take him out and tie him to a tree ... in the next half hour," one directive stated. A commander told CNN: "Any large Ukrainian drone they call Baba Yaga. It spreads terrible panic in these damaged people. For them, it's some kind of scary myth that flies in and kills everyone." According to Grigory Sverdlin, founder of Get Lost, a Barcelona-based organisation assisting Russian men to desert or avoid conscription, "violence is what is keeping the Russian army going and what is glueing it together," as reported by CNN. Since its inception six months into the invasion, Get Lost has assisted 1,700 individuals in deserting. However, these figures are dwarfed by those from the Institute for the Study of War, which suggests that leaked data from Moscow's Defense Ministry indicates as many as 50,000 desertion, reports the Express US . Sverdlin believes that their lives "are not worth anything to their commanders. For Russian officers, losing a tank, losing a vehicle, is much worse than losing, say, 10 or 20 people. "We often hear from our clients that officers tell them they will all be dead in a week. The officer will get another unit, so it's not a problem for them," he revealed to CNN. Desertion can result in a prison sentence of up to 15 years. However, leaked social media videos have exposed brutal torture methods, including one where a man is tied to a tree with a bucket over his head, who is then repeatedly kicked in the face after the bucket is removed. Another video shows a man being kicked in the face while his ankles are tied to a jeep that drives off, dragging him behind in a horrific punishment known as "the carousel." According to a June report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, nearly a million Russian soldiers have been killed or injured since February 2022 when Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the human toll of Putin's relentless attack on Kyiv. NATO estimated that 100,000 Russian personnel have died in 2025 alone. As per Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Russian recruiters have been conducting large-scale conscription drives, which include raiding offices, patrolling subway trains and standing outside flat buildings to enlist men. They've also targeted inmates in jails and prisons, as well as occupants of homeless shelters. Since the onset of the invasion, hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled the country to evade being dispatched to the frontlines. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters .