By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-09-28 14:00:50 | Updated at 2024-09-30 11:34:20
2 days ago
The first death of a Russian woman released from prison by Vladimir Putin to fight Ukraine has been announced after she was 'mowed down' on the frontline.
Elena Pimonenkova, 37, had been serving a jail sentence for multiple offences - including a knife attack on a man, carjacking, robbery, damaging property and threatening to kill - before she was recruited by the Russian Army.
The criminal reportedly died in the Belgorod war zone inside Russia but the circumstances remain unclear at the moment.
Pimonenko was handpicked for Putin's army from a penal colony in the Leningrad region, near St Petersburg, and enlisted in return for a shortened prison sentence.
She was due to serve one more year in jail at the point she was freed.
Elena Pimonenkova (pictured), 37, had been serving a jail sentence for multiple offences - including a knife attack on a man, carjacking, robbery, damaging property and threatening to kill - before she was recruited by the Russian Army
Pimonenkova reportedly died in the Belgorod war zone inside Russia but the circumstances remain unclear at the moment
Pimonenko was handpicked for Putin's army from a penal colony in the Leningrad region, near St Petersburg, and enlisted in return for a shortened prison sentence
Her relatives have been told that she was mown down by a car close to the frontline, but say they do not believe the official account of her death.
Her mother received a phone call the day before her death from an unknown man who told her that he would 'deal with Elena and rid her of bad habits'.
Reports say Putin has slowed or halted the recruitment of women convicts.
It started in February this year when Pimonenkova was one of ten to be selected by the Russian defence ministry out of 60 female applicants.
According to to Russian news site 47news.ru, the ministry is no longer recruiting women prisoners on the same scale, despite stepping up efforts to fill the ranks with men as cannon fodder for his war.
It follows reports that at least six people have been killed in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, following a Russian attack on a medical centre.
The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 69 of 73 drones fired overnight from Russia. At least 15 of the drones were intercepted on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Keir Starmer used his first address to the United Nations Security Council to ask Putin's representative how he dare show his face at the UN.
He said the illegal invasion had caused 'colossal human suffering' with 35,000 casualties, 6million people forced to flee and almost 20,000 Ukrainian children 'kidnapped'.
At least six people have been killed in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, following a Russian attack on a medical centre
Searchlights in the Ukrainian capital. The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 69 of 73 drones fired overnight from Russia. At least 15 of the drones were intercepted on the outskirts of Kyiv
Sir Keir was also due to hold talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at the gathering of world leaders in New York as Ukraine's president prepares to present his 'victory plan' to end the war in a crucial White House meeting tomorrow.
The PM told the security council, on which Russia has a permanent seat: 'Six hundred thousand Russian soldiers have also been killed or wounded in this war. And for what?
'The UN Charter - which they sit here to uphold speaks of human dignity. Not treating your own citizens as bits of meat to fling into the grinder.'
He said the war had also triggered a 'global energy crisis and a global food security crisis' while Russia was now deepening its military ties with North Korea and Iran.
With Russia's deputy UN representative Dmitry Polyanskiy in the room, the PM urged: 'Aggression cannot pay. Borders cannot be redrawn by force. Russia started this illegal war. It must end it - and get out of Ukraine.
