Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - February 19, 2025 - Russia's indigenous peoples are facing a "generational crisis" due to the high number of deaths in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Thousands of men, including a reindeer herding community, are failing to return home alive, according to human rights defenders.

The Nenets people, who traditionally herd reindeer in the Yamal Peninsula, are being mobilized for the war, with the fate of those being mobilised revealed by the testimony of a 19-year-old soldier taken prisoner by Ukraine.

The International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia has appealed to those in line for mobilisation to continue their traditions and not perish at the behest of Putin.

The United Nations has described the peoples as one of the federation's most marginalized and vulnerable population groups, and the outlawing of their representatives as persecution.

The deployment of indigenous people to the frontline has continued outside of Russia-wide mobilisations, with exact figures hard to come by due to state secrecy and pressure from the Russian government.

Indigenous people in Russia are being offered large sums of money to volunteer for military service, despite low education and access to information sources.

They are often given illegal fishing fines and forced to fight for their homeland.

However, promises of lucrative remuneration have evaporated due to corruption and disappearances.

The Yupik Eskimo people, who claimed asylum in the US, are facing an existential crisis and an "invisible war" over Arctic gas reserves.