Russian troops reportedly deliberately wounding themselves to avoid fighting war
Russian soldiers are showing signs of despair in the ill-fated invasion of Ukraine, resorting to desperate new lows.
Desperate and demoralised Russian troops are reportedly shooting themselves to avoid fighting on the front lines.
Tens of thousands of dead soldiers, sailors and airmen. Thousands of wrecked tanks. Sunk or damaged warships. More than 100 downed aircraft and helicopters.
Little wonder Russia’s frontline fighters are showing signs of despair.
The Ukrainian Defence Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate yesterday released what it says is a tapped phone call between a dispirited Russian soldier and his disbelieving mother.
The mother appears to challenge her son and his brothers-in-arms, demanding to know if there were any Russian “patriots” left willing to fight.
Her son, reported to be a 20-year-old air assault trooper serving in the Kherson region, scoffs at the idea.
“I had a commander who shot himself in the leg just to get out of here. And that was in the very beginning,” he exclaimed.
Another call, released Saturday, claims to capture a wife telling her soldier husband to “fall off a tank or something – I don’t f**king know! Because you’d be able to go home straight from the hospital.”
“There’s no other way out,” she explains.
“Well, clearly, what kind of stupid f**k would come here?” the husband retorts.
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Loose lips sink ships
Since Russia first invaded in February, intercepted phone calls have been a feature of the Ukraine war. All Russian numbers were blocked on Ukrainian networks. Troops have since been using insecure stolen phones to call home.
Others appear to be using open radio communications networks due to their encrypted military radios’ failure (and some claim sale to the black market).
“Where is air support? Where is air support?” a Russian crew member of a Raptor assault boat operating near Snake Island was intercepted as calling last week. “This Bayraktar (Ukrainian drone) is already pissing me the fuck off … They have fired a fourth missile at us! A fourth missile!”
Ukrainian claims, supported by satellite photos, suggest several Russian ships were sunk and damaged in the engagement.
But the value of the intercepts goes far beyond operational intelligence.
Desperate measures
The revelations – and impact – on the morale of Russian troop testimonies are significant.
In the phone tap released this weekend, the Russian paratrooper told his mother that his brigade had been decimated with less than half its strength still available.
“Our people are just disappearing on their own,” he said. “Some of them vanished without a trace. Some were taken prisoner. Some are hiding. Some are already in Russia.”
But the Russian wife recorded earlier was worried her husband may take the idea of self-harm too far. “Don’t shoot yourself in the leg, because who the f**k knows how that would end,” she warned.
“Don’t let someone whack you on your side because of your kidneys.”
Yet another intercepted call captures an upset son speaking to his father.
“They’re standing there, they’re under fire, and the commander just goes, ‘Don’t back down!’ While he’s somewhere sitting on a couch, drinking, probably,” the young soldier said.
“They can f**k off with this war,” the father retorted, calling his commander a “worthless rat” and “f**king scum”.
The beatings will continue until morale improves
The phone intercepts come amid reports the Kremlin has assigned a general to the specific purpose of tackling low morale on the front lines.
One soldier says a general named “Muradov” – most likely the General Rustam Muradov known for his brutal tactics in Syria – had set up “demonstrative tribunals” as a warning.
The soldier said, “The commanders didn’t want to lead their boys to death. ‘The guys themselves just weren’t ready. So yesterday, Muradov busted the f**k out of the commanders to make an example. He undressed them, made them pull everything out of their pockets, tied their hands. Then they loaded them into trucks and took them away.”
General Muradov may have his work cut out for him, however.
Another recording captured one response to President Vladimir Putin’s keynote Victory Day speech last week. It was supposed to be a call to arms, a rallying cry to defend Russia from all evil.
“Well, what do you want? He’s an old nut job,” he mocked.
“Yes, let’s get back the USSR, f**k, Lithuania, Latvia, f**king Estonia, everything that’s not part of Russia let’s win back … as if we didn’t f**k up enough around here already.”
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