The deaths of conscripts in Russia’s Kursk region are a “social time bomb” for Vladimir Putin, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). As the think tank reports, the use of recruits in Kursk is a blow to the Russian president.

Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Shirsky, said his forces had captured about 600 Russian soldiers since launching their cross-border incursion into Kursk three weeks ago.

It is believed that most of these prisoners of war they are conscripts — young and relatively inexperienced soldiers who probably believed they would not see any real combat in their one-year mandatory military service.

They certainly wouldn’t expect to see battle on Russian soil. However, analysts believe they currently make up the bulk of the defense force in the Kursk region.

“They are the ones who are arrested, they are the ones who are surrounded. And that’s it a vulnerable point for Putin in terms of his domestic prestige,” said Carolina Hird, deputy head of the Russia group at the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank.

At the start of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin had promised that they would not be used in battles conscripts.

But with reports of young conscripts dying or being sent to the front, anger is growing among families.

“As long as he continues to demonstrate that he is not particularly interested in protecting the conscripts in Kursk and using them as the main line of defense, I expect that there will be societal repercussions in the future,” Hird said.

Russia’s defense ministry said the 115 soldiers, freed last week in the first prisoner exchange since Ukraine crossed the border on August 6, were captured in Kursk.

The Russian NGO “Get Lost” supports people trying to avoid conscription and escape from war. He reports that since the beginning of the invasion of Kursk, hundreds from the border region have contacted them for help.

A spokesperson for the NGO said that conscripts are required to sign a contract. According to the contract, “the conscript not only goes to the Kursk region, but after Kursk he will not return home. He will continue to fight, either until the end of Putin’s life, or until the end of the war, or until the end of his own life.”

“We were ready for talks before the reckless move”

Russia’s readiness for peace talks with Ukraine it was undeniable but it was “destroyed” by Kiev’s “reckless” move in the Kursk region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Thursday at a news conference after talks with Senegalese Foreign Minister Yassin Faull.

“We always remember that President (Russia’s Vladimir) Putin made the last peace proposal in June, after all previous initiatives and agreements collapsed and were sabotaged by the Kiev regime and its Western backers. Our readiness for talks was beyond any doubt, although of course, after the reckless move in the Kursk region, any discussion on this issue no longer makes sense,” he said.

Ukrainian forces launched a major offensive in the Kursk region on August 6. Since then there have been repeated warnings of a Ukrainian attack in the region, and the Russian government has declared a federal state of emergency there. Russian civilians are being evacuated from areas along the border to safer places. According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, they are fully operational 197 temporary accommodation centers in 28 regions of Russia, housing more than 11,500 people, including more than 3,500 children.

The Russian Defense Ministry claims that Ukraine has lost up to 7,000 soldiers and 74 tanks since fighting began in the Kursk region.