“Dozens of calls were recorded and shared where soldiers discussed largely with their mothers, wives and girlfriends an intense desire to quit the Russian military.
“They gave us the order to kill everyone we see,” one man named Sergey reportedly told his girlfriend. “Kill any civilian that walks by and drag them into the forest. I’ve already become a murderer”.
“I don’t want to kill any more people, especially the ones I will have to look in the eyes,” he added.
Reports of gross human rights abuses including torture chambers, mass graves and civilian executions have surfaced since the war began seven months ago.
While many of the calls appeared to show remorse and a feeling of entrapment, others detailed the things they had stolen, in some cases for survival including food and medical supplies, while others collected “trophies” and stole televisions to bring home with them.
Others discussed the complete breakdown of communication and leadership that has led to an immense number of Russian deaths.
In one conversation a soldier named Yevgeniy told his partner, “No one is left from my Kostroma regiment.”
“There were 400 paratroopers. And only 38 of them survived,” another named Sergey told his mother. “Our commanders sent soldiers to the slaughter.”
It is unclear exactly how many Russian soldiers have been killed in the fighting since the war began, though according to the Ukrainian defense ministry over 60,000 Russian soldiers have died.”
Comment: To some extent one must remember that men will always complain to their women, but this rabble is nothing like what Clausewitz thought were either soldiers or an army. They should get busy and find some UA to surrender to. pl
Calls from the front lines reveal morale collapse in Russian army: report | Fox News
If there is a caption competition for the photo here is my submission: “We’ve had enough rotten pizza! Even a dog wouldn’t eat this!”
For anyone who thinks the baby carriage bouncing down the steps at Union Station in The Untouchables is original, I’d highly recommend the movie that did it first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCR44ihk6C8
It must be true across most cultures that for men under duress, the gentleness and basic goodness of women is a comfort maybe second only to the heavens.
Nah! Soldiers in combat are more interested in women’s plumbing than anything else. They turn their faces from memory of distractions. We are talking about real soldiers.
Vive la différence – that is in the original binary meaning, not any sort of debased celebration of ‘diversity’.
Gentle? You never met my ex-wife. I will give you fundamentally good, but she sure as hell isn’t particularly gentle when the chips are down. (She currently is a major in the OH Air National Guard. She spent a year in Iraq and a year in Afghanistan and did just fine.)
Calls from the front line?
I thought that the Russians did not allow their soldiers to take their mobile phones into the field?
This story sounds mighty dodgy to me.
WPO,
The Russian Army lacks the discipline to enforce such a policy. That should be obvious.
Source: Ukraine Intelligence via NYT. It fits the developed persona of the Russians as ignorant, cowardly, bloodthirsty criminals controlled by the forces of darkness led by the devil incarnate himself – Putin.
Given the historical performance of the NYT, why would we give this report any more credence than the vaporings of the equivalent Russian cheerleaders?
I am not a military expert, but I suspect that psychology is an important factor in warfare. I have been reading reports that the Russians are using inferior communications that are easily manipulated by UA and also jammed. In essence, what has been written is that when the RA is first spotting UA troops, they have no idea who is coming up behind them and by now the prudent response is to get the hell out as quickly as possible and the higher echelons are largely unaware of the real situation and when they try to correct, it is too late and ineffective.
The same psychology is now spreading within Russia, as people are becoming aware that the “mobilization” is due to bad stuff happening to their military. Add to that the awareness that most of the rest of the world now despise them.
None of this is new. HC Andersen once made all this rather obvious. Some people will accept fables.
More Ukraine propoganda. The farce continues.
Why would Russian soldiers shoot civilians on sight and drag them into the forest? I thought that most of the population in the the Donbas were ethnic Russians sympathetic to Russia⁷
GD –
Back two decades ago in the Ukrainian Census of 2001, 49.6% of the inhabitants of Luhansk Oblast declared themselves as ethnically Ukrainians and 47% as Russians. Similar situation in Donetsk Oblast where the Ukrainian ethnicity was 56.9% of the population and Russian ethnicity was 38.2% of the population.
The Donbas became flooded with Russians in the 2013/2014 timeframe when Yanukovich had nationalist groups in Russia illegally cross the borders to influence the elections.
Further west in Putin-occupied Kherson it is over 80% ethnic Ukrainian.
Thanks for that information.
WPO, many reports of Russian soldiers using (stealing) civilian phones.
Seems two Russian’s fleeing the draft (or whatever they call it) managed to get to an Alaskan Island – those two had skills to get that far
https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/10/05/russian-nationals-detained-st-lawrence-island-after-landing-small-boat/