A captured Russian soldier says he was deployed to Ukraine despite schizophrenia and wounds, describing chaos, neglect, and untreated illness at the front.

Vaganov says such disregard for conscripts’ medical conditions is routine in the Russian army. Doctors ignored whether men had health issues and marked everyone as fit for service. “People had problems with their arms and legs, and they were sent to war anyway,” he says.

After the medical examinations, he and about a dozen other servicemen were sent by train to another city, where they were issued uniforms. “It was only then that I realized I had ended up in the army,” Vaganov said.

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Vitaly Vaganov is a Russian serviceman currently held in captivity in Ukraine. He is being afforded all the rights of a prisoner of war.