Relatives search for severely injured North Ossetian soldier taken back to the front

The family of Dzate Mamitov, a severely injured mobilised soldier from North Ossetia, has reported his disappearance after he was removed from hospital and allegedly sent back to the front in Ukraine. His sister, Irina Mamitova, recorded a video appeal to the Head of the republic, Sergei Menyailo, asking for intervention. She was supported by representatives of the Union of Special Military Operation Veterans of North Ossetia (the term the Russian government calls the full-scale war in Ukraine), who also published a video.

According to Mamitova, her brother was mobilised on 30 September 2022 and served in the 5th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade (military unit 41698). On 4 July 2024, he sustained serious injuries: he lost two toes, an arm, and his right eye. After receiving treatment at the Vishnevsky Military Hospital in Moscow, he was transferred to a military unit in Vladikavkaz. A medical commission deemed him temporarily unfit for service due to the ongoing inflammation in his leg, and he was sent home.

However, although Mamitov was still recuperating from his injuries, he was still required to maintain contact with his unit, as his discharge notice was only on a temporary basis.

On 10 April 2025, representatives of the 5th Brigade took Mamitov after he arrived at the military unit for a mandatory ‘check in’. According to his family, unidentified personnel from the unit used force against him — they sprayed pepper spray in his face, beat him, and took him away to an unknown location. From that moment, he could no longer be contacted.

‘On 12 April, he managed to call us. He said he was being sent on an assault mission — that very evening. In the condition he’s in’, his relatives said in a follow-up statement.

They added that following his abduction, there were repeated attempts to withdraw ₽30,000 ($370) from his bank card. When it became clear that there wasn’t enough money on the account, the withdrawal amounts began to decrease. The family managed to withdraw the remaining ₽5,000 ($60). The attempted transactions were traced to the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, which is currently under Russian control in Donetsk Oblast.

Since 12 April, Mamitov’s whereabouts remain unknown. His sister travelled to the combat zone in search of him, but her efforts so far have been unsuccessful.

‘I am in [Donetsk] in the ‘special military operation’ zone looking for my brother. Behind every door we knock on, no one tells us where he is, what has happened to him, whether he is alive or healthy. I am desperate’, Mamitova said in her video message.

At the time of publication, there had been no official comment from the authorities of North Ossetia.

‘He is in need of serious medical treatment. And sadly, there are many young men from Ossetia in similar situations, facing various issues and unable to resolve them on their own. We are appealing to you [Menyailo] as a military man, as the Head of the republic. Have our people, who have fought in every war since joining Russia, including those of the Soviet Union, not earned the right to assistance for such fighters who are now suffering?’ said one of the veterans in the video message.

Military unit 41698 has previously been the subject of other complaints. In March, relatives of military officers published a video stating that wounded soldiers were being held in a basement without receiving medical assistance.

Additionally, the Russian independent media outlet ASTRA reported that in Ocheretyne, Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, which is currently under Russian control, soldiers from the same 5th Donetsk Brigade named after Zakharchenko (unit 41698), who were designated as having deserted, were being forcibly held in the basement of a private home. One of them, after being kept there, was sent on an assault mission with a frostbitten foot.ASTRA has also published an investigation into the torture of Russian servicemen by commanders of the 5th and 110th Brigades (units 41698 and 42600). According to the report, commanders operated a ‘concentration camp’ on the grounds of the abandoned Petrovskaya mine in Donetsk, where they tortured soldiers who refused to fight and then forced them into deadly assaults. It was at this location that American pro-Russian correspondent and fighter Russell Bentley was allegedly tortured to death.

North Ossetian soldiers in Ukraine report of ‘lawlessness’, including murder, by commander’s office

Soldiers from North Ossetia deployed in Ukraine have recorded a video telling about the ‘lawlessness’ they witnessed.

OC MediaElizaveta Chukharova