A group of mobilised and volunteer soldiers from Norilsk were seen setting off for training camp in Omsk on Tuesday.

Footage captured by drone and on the ground shows the citizens saying their goodbyes to family and friends, before boarding buses and leaving for the airport.

Norilsk Mayor Dmitri Karasev gave his backing to the recent recruits.

"Today we saw off our heroes - courageous and dignified Norilsk

residents. I'm grateful to them for their manly principles: they don't hide, they don't run, they willingly and proudly go to defend their homeland, all of us," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.

Karasev added that the group will be assigned to a combat unit upon their arrival in Omsk on Wednesday.

President Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilisation of 300,000 reservists on Wednesday, September 21, saying it was to protect both Russian sovereignty and those in the territories of four regions; the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), Kherson and Zaporozhye.

Reports from various countries bordering Russia suggest that thousands fled the country since the policy came into force.

On September 30, Putin agreed to sign documents allowing the accession of the four areas into the Russian Federation.

According to Moscow, it followed referenda in which people living there exercised their right to self-determination and requested to join Russia.

Ukraine and its international allies condemned the move, calling it an annexation of Kiev’s sovereign territory.

Moscow launched the military offensive in Ukraine earlier this year, after recognising the independence of the DPR and LPR.

Kiev condemned the action, while President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered martial law and his own full mobilisation in February.