In phone calls to friends and relatives back home, Russian soldiers stationed in Ukraine gave insider accounts that included compelling evidence of battlefield failures and atrocities against civilians and sharply criticized the orders issued by their commanders weeks after the campaign to capture Kyiv. .
According to the New York Times, the communications, which were intercepted and released by Ukraine, showed how the Ukrainian capital would have fallen within days had it not been for “tactical errors and strong Ukrainian resistance.”
Russian soldiers stationed in trenches, dugouts and occupied houses in the area around Bucha, a western suburb of Kyiv, defied orders by making unauthorized calls on mobile phones to their wives, girlfriends, friends and fathers hundreds of miles from the front line. .
The New York Times has exclusively obtained recordings of thousands of calls made in March that were intercepted by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.
Journalists verified those calls by cross-referencing Russian phone numbers with messaging apps and social media profiles to identify soldiers and family members, the newspaper said.
This newspaper spent nearly two months translating these recorded files and published some of them.
According to the newspaper, the soldiers describe a morale crisis and lack of equipment and say their commanders lied about the mission they were carrying out, all conditions that have contributed to the recent setbacks of Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Some of the conversations included “sharp criticism of Putin and military leaders,” according to the newspaper, which said it was using only the soldiers’ first names to protect their identities for fear of reprisals.
Putin is an idiot, he wants to (occupy) Kyiv, but it is not possible to do that, says the soldier, known to the newspaper as Iskander.
Soldiers complain of strategic mistakes and severe lack of supplies, some admit to arresting and killing civilians, and openly admit to looting Ukrainian homes and businesses.
Many say they want to end their military contracts.
According to this newspaper, the calls represent an important document that refutes the propaganda that the Russian media spreads inside the country with the harsh realities of the war around them.
Russian soldiers told their relatives that the military strategy was failing and they were surprised by the professionalism of the Ukrainian forces, and one of them said frankly: “We are failing.”
Soldiers describe tactical errors and complain about lack of weapons and basic equipment such as night vision devices and proper vests.
A soldier named Nikita in the 656th National Guard Regiment tells his partner that 90 men around him were killed when they were ambushed.
In a joint communication between members of the 331st Airborne Regiment, a soldier named Simeon estimates that a third of his regiment was killed, while another describes a row of coffins containing the bodies of 400 young paratroopers waiting outside the airport hangar. return home
Soldiers of the 331st Airborne Regiment reported that the entire 2nd Battalion of 600 soldiers had been destroyed.
A soldier named Andrei tells his father that more than half of his regiment is “gone”.
They say the regimental commander, Sergei Sukharov, was killed during the fighting, an event confirmed by recent news reports.
And in Russia, phone calls show that the surge in casualties is beginning to reverberate in the towns where the soldiers live, as communities and families share news of the casualties.
Relatives described lines of coffins arriving in their towns, while soldiers warned in calls that more bodies would soon arrive.
A woman told her husband that there were military funerals every day that week.
In what may be evidence of war crimes, a soldier named Sergei confesses to his girlfriend that his commanding officer ordered the execution of three men who “passed by our warehouse” and that he has become a “murderer.” .
When his girlfriend asked him why they didn’t take the Ukrainians prisoner, he replied: “We had to feed them and we don’t have enough food for ourselves.”
A soldier from the 331st Airborne Regiment named Andrey told his wife that he had threatened to kill a drunk Ukrainian man and dump his body in a forest where no one would find it.
Later, Sergei says that a commander ordered them to do the same.
Source: Lebanon Debate
