A Russian soldier has been overheard in an intercepted phone call describing how he and his comrades were deployed on a foolhardy and deadly mission by commanders who later arrested him for complaining about what happened.
In the conversation released by Ukraine's Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR), the man tells his friend Sanya about his company ending up in the midst of withering Ukrainian fire, all while lacking the artillery needed for a counterattack.
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“It's just that we ended up where we shouldn't be. What the hell did I do there without artillery? In short, they [commanders] put us in a quarry, and that's where the fire show began.
“On the one side of the quarry – machine guns; on the other side – drones and two f*cking mortars. They [Ukrainian troops] started beating us up from two sides. They kicked our asses totally.
“Non-stop fire from literally everywhere; we are running back and forth, like idiots. No one knows where to go. It was a total f**king disaster.”
Speaking further, he told Sanya that he approached the battalion commander following the failed operation, asking who would be held responsible for the criminal order.
“I was talking to the battalion commander, you know, I put it straight, I said: ‘You're going to be responsible for those who stayed there. We shouldn't have been there. Who sent us there without f*cking artillery, what the f*ck? Will you be held responsible for it?’
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"Sanya, and what do you think happened? I was immediately arrested. I spent 4 days in the punishment pit."
Speaking further, the soldier complains that the bodies of his deceased comrades won't even be retrieved and appropriately buried.
"Yes. And the most annoying thing is, f**k it, the guys who died there won't be even taken from there. Before that, we were there too, not far from Avdiivka, and we couldn't take bodies from there either.
"They've been lying there for more than a month. Foxes, f**k it, are gnawing, eating the boys.”
Continuing, the soldier explains to his friend that if the body isn't retrieved, the relatives of the fallen soldiers won't be able to apply for compensation.
“In short, if there is no body – there is no business,” he says.
“I told him [the commander], I said take the phone, call these boys' parents and explain to them why their kid died and where his body is. I say, explain how he died and under what circumstances. Why the f**k it happened?
“And he starts to beat himself in the chest and says that he's a battalion commander, like, ‘you better think about who you're talking to.’"
"I replied: "Yes, I know exactly who I am talking to, what I am saying, why I am saying it, and to whom it refers."
The soldier continues to lament that commanders assign unrealistic combat tasks but never participate in military missions, but instead “sit in Donetsk and watch via a drone as we are being killed.”
“F**king assh*le, you're sitting in Donetsk, looking at a drone, as we are being killed. You haven't been on a single assault with us, f**king douchebag.
In an unexpected conclusion of the conversation, he voices his allegations that the war might be over soon, precisely on its second anniversary.
"Well, again, you see, there are rumours that we're going home sooner, that it all lasts until February 24 and that's it."
Discord over commanders' unrealistic goals and extremely hazardous combat tasks appears to grow among Russian soldiers.
In a number of conversations recently intercepted by HUR, soldiers discuss ways to give up serving and avoid further deployment to the frontline while civilians panic about being conscripted.
For example, a Russian soldier was overheard on a phone call revealing that a portion of Moscow's battalion had defied orders and was currently "idle in the forest, not engaged in combat."
In another instance, Russian soldiers were complaining about not being given leave in almost two years and saying that “soon we'll gather a crowd and head towards Russia.”
Back in December of 2023, Alexander Shpilevoy, mobilized from Voronezh, recorded a video calling for the rotation of military personnel and an end to hostilities in Ukraine.
Three weeks later, it was revealed that he was confined in a penal guards' facility – basically a punishment pit – in the Luhansk region.
Earlier this year, Kyiv Post interviewed Maria* who works as one of Ukrainian intelligence’s professional eavesdroppers and spoke about the shocking things she hears.
Russia regularly dismisses the content of intercepted calls published by Ukraine, saying they are faked, a claim Kyiv Post put to Maria. She said: “Yes, they all are real even though they might seem insane. Sometimes I can’t believe the words I’m hearing myself, but we have what we have.”
Kyiv Post regularly reposts some of the most revealing and shocking intercepted conversations.
You can read some of them by clicking on the links below:
- 'Half a Battalion Escaped to The Forest' – Russian Soldier Blamed for Mass Refusal to Fight
- ‘The Assault Failed, Everyone Was Killed’ – Russian Soldier Reveals Horrific Losses, Possibly at Avdiivka
- '150,000 Men Will Be Thrown In’ – Russian Soldier Reveals Fears of ‘Huge’ Ukrainian Crimea Liberation Force
- 'We Lost 600 Men’ – Russian Reveals Horrific Losses and Behavior On Frontlines
- ‘All Our Guys Were Slaughtered’ – Intercepted Phone Calls Suggest Huge Russian Losses
- ‘He Started Shooting Us!’ – Intercepted Phone Call Reveals Russian Friendly Fire Incident
- ‘We’ll Tear You Apart’ – Ukrainian Soldiers Are Trolling Russian Commanders on Telegram
- ‘War Until 2026’ - Russian Soldier Claims He’s Been Told To Expect 3 More Years of Fighting
- ‘Trucks Full of Corpses’ – Intercepted Phone Call Suggests Massive Wagner Losses
- ‘All Our Boys Are Rotting’– Intercepted Phone Call Suggests Heavy Russian Casualities Near Antonivsky Bridge
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