Into the Fire, Onto the Battlefield: How Russia Forces Wounded Soldiers Back to the Front in Ukraine

After stepping on a landmine, Oleg Shikin was taken to hospital with shrapnel embedded in his skull, burns to his face and hands, and injuries to his left eye, chest, arms, and legs. Part of his skull had to be surgically removed. Shikin signed a military contract in exchange for early release from prison. Over the past four years, tens of thousands of prisoners have made the same choice as Russia seeks more soldiers for its war in Ukraine. After treatment, Shikin was referred for a military medical evaluation to determine whether he was "unfit for service." In wartime, soldiers deemed "unfit for service" can be discharged. The evaluation recommended he be re-examined after one month of sick leave. But in reality, after having a titanium implant plate placed in his head, he was sent back to the front. Shikin's case is one of dozens uncovered by BBC Russian. Publicly available court documents show military officers repeatedly accused of sending injured soldiers back to the battlefield without arranging the legally required medical evaluations. According to Russia's "Law on Military Duty and Military Service," ratings of "unfit for service" or "partially fit for service" may lead to early discharge. These ratings should be made by a military medical board composed of internal medicine doctors, surgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, ophthalmologists, ENT specialists, dentists, and other experts when necessary. Because he did not receive a full medical board evaluation, Shikin filed a complaint with the Nizhny Novgorod Garrison Military Court, claiming he was treated unlawfully. The military court appeared to agree with his claim and ordered his commander to ensure proper procedures were followed. But the records end there. No further information about Shikin is available online, and it is unknown whether he was ever re-evaluated or even whether he is still alive. Sergei Krivenko, head of the human rights group "Citizen Army Law," said many former prisoners are effectively trapped in the military, allowing them to be "coldly consumed" in the war. For example, the Southern Military District Military Court ruled that Rustam Farzaliyev's criminal record made it impossible for him to leave the military, even though he was only deemed "partially fit for service" due to having a "disease with significant social impact." Meanwhile, former prisoner Vitaly Kamenyuk complained that despite his initial injury being classified as "severe," the military deemed him fit for service based solely on the opinion of one neurologist and refused to arrange a more formal evaluation. Ordinary volunteers who have lost fingers or suffer from HIV, tuberculosis, cancer, or mental illness have previously been discharged on grounds of being "partially fit for service." But it's not only former prisoners who complain about flawed medical evaluations. In 2022, when hundreds of thousands of reservists were mobilized, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a wartime directive requiring them to undergo medical examinations upon arrival at their units "to rule out infectious diseases and injuries that hinder mobilization." Only if such checks found a condition of "unfitness for service" would personnel be referred to a full medical board for evaluation. In court documents, reservist Dmitry Yelkin stated he was deemed fit for service based solely on medical records from 11 years prior, with his current health condition not properly assessed. Another directive, signed in June 2023 by then-Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, stipulated that soldiers returning to their units after hospital discharge or the end of sick leave would be evaluated for fitness, unfitness, or partial fitness by the unit's duty doctor or even a medic—rather than a full medical board. Now, despite Russia intensifying recruitment among prisoners, students, and overseas citizens and offering substantial pay, several independent Russian media outlets report that the number of willing recruits is declining. At the same time, battlefield deaths and injuries continue to rise. BBC Russian has now confirmed and published the identities of 233,200 Russian soldiers killed during the conflict. And in May 2026, the head of the UK intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) stated that nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers had died since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As the number of lawsuits filed by wounded soldiers increases, Russia's Ministry of Defense has proposed making its wartime directives permanent law. A lawyer from the "Call to Conscience Coalition," which assists conscripts, contract soldiers, and mobilized personnel, said: "Essentially, they want to replace the military medical board with a single medical check-up." This suggests Russia is looking to sustain its military size over the long term. The lawyer, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, told BBC Russian: "It means these measures are no longer seen as temporary." "They are preparing to fight this way for decades." BBC Russian sought a response from the Russian Ministry of Defense regarding the proposed legislation and complaints from soldiers about not receiving proper medical evaluations, but received no reply. We used artificial intelligence to assist in translating this article, which was originally in English. Before publication, BBC journalists checked the translation.