Russian mothers who believe their sons have been sent into war by Vladimir Putin as cannon fodder are lashing out at him, desperately seeking an end to the invasion. Russia’s Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers spoke to a Russian investigative news outlet saying many young boys have been pressured and even forced to sign contracts to join the Russian Military.

“Mothers are telling us that their sons have been calling them and saying they’re being forced to sign contracts…the parents who have gotten in touch have told us their sons were just taken by military officers, stamped, and that’ sit – now they’re contract soldiers” said Olga Larkina, the group’s director.

🔴Angry Russian mothers have accused Vladimir Putin of deploying their sons as "cannon fodder" in his invasion of Ukraine

Read more here👇https://t.co/G1kd8kcedA pic.twitter.com/Kd4fB6tG1v

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) March 7, 2022

Putin has disputed the claims and addressed the mothers directly. “I’d like to address the mothers, wives, sisters, brides and girlfriends of our soldiers and officers who are in battle now,” he said in a televised address, according to a translation from Russian.

“I know how worried you are for your loved ones…you can be proud of them just as the whole country is proud and feels for them.”

“We were all deceived, all deceived,” a woman shouted at Sergey Tsivilev, governor of the Kuzbass region in Siberia, on a video translated by the Telegraph and shared to social media. “They were sent there as cannon fodder. They are young. They were unprepared.”

Fox News reports:

Putin claimed Russian troops, which he sent in last month in a stalled bid to topple the government in Kyiv, have deployed for a defensive “special military operation.”

He also claimed that “conscripted soldiers” played no role in combat operations in Ukraine and vowed not to mobilize additional reserves.  

However, just days into the invasion last month reports emerged that conscripted soldiers had been forced to sign military contracts and were cut off from communications with their families.