Ukraine war: Russian soldiers’ mums ‘encourage them to kill civilians’

Russian soldiers’ mothers used to be influential voices, advocating peace during previous campaigns. But fed on a diet of 24-hour propaganda they’ve become vociferously, violently pro-war.

An intercepted call between a dispirited Russian soldier and his irate mother has revealed how troops are being encouraged by their families to kill civilians and even children, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

The phone call, tracked by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and published on its Telegram channel, provides an insight into the pressure young Russian men are being put under to keep fighting the war against “fascists”, it said.

“Son, don’t be down,” the mother of the soldier says. “If you only saw what they are doing, you’d know you were doing great work over there. Don’t forget it, and tell everyone the same.”

The soldier appears perplexed by his mother’s characterisation of the war. “What are we doing? Killing civilians and children?” he asks.

“No, you aren’t killing civilians and children. You are killing f***ing fascists,” his mother replies.

An elderly woman enters a bunker in Severodonetsk, Donbass as the Russians intensify their assault. Picture: AFP.

Organisations representing the mothers of Russian soldiers were influential voices in Russian society advocating peace during previous campaigns, such as the war in Chechnya. However, President Putin has successfully clamped down on independent civil society in Russia, meaning babushkas back home are fed a diet of 24-hour propaganda on state TV and are among the most vociferously pro-war constituents of Russian society.

Independent polling is hard to come by in Russia, but a group of sociologists and IT specialists managed to carry out a study of 1,640 people, focusing on attitudes to the war in the first few days. The poll, published on Extreme Scan, found that just 34 per cent of men of fighting age – those 18 to 30 – support the war. That compares with 60 per cent of women from 41 to 55, and 74 per cent for those over 66.

Men between the ages of 56 and 65 were most supportive, with 81 per cent in favour of the “special military operation”, as the Kremlin describes it.

Service members of pro-Russian troops near the southern port city of Mariupol. Picture: Reuters.

Maximilian Hess, a fellow specialising in Russian and Central Asia at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said that older Russians had grown up with stories of the Soviet Union’s heroic struggle against the Nazis and were therefore more susceptible to propaganda about Ukrainian fascists.

“The older people are far more likely to get their news from television, which is controlled by the state. They are far more likely to have not only grown up in the Soviet Union, but have served in groups such as the Young Pioneers,” he said, referring to the Soviet youth organisation. “The older Russians are the core basis of Putin’s support; the ones least likely to challenge him, the ones most bought into the propaganda narratives.”

Ukrainian grave diggers shovel soil into an open grave after the Bucha massacre. Picture: AFP.

The low morale affecting Russian troops in Ukraine was revealed by a separate call intercepted by the SBU. Two soldiers could be heard debating murdering their commander after he abandoned them in the woods for three days. “Our commands have f***ed off, they abandoned us,” says one.

“F***ing shoot them and be done with it,” the other replies.

Russian soldiers have used insecure lines to speak to their relatives at home throughout the war, allowing the Ukrainian intelligence services to intercept the calls and publish shocking details on social media.

Roman Bykovsky and his wife Olga have been identified as a couple o Ukrainian intelligence heard discussing raping a Ukrainian woman.

In one case a 27-year-old Russian soldier was given permission by his chuckling wife to rape Ukrainian women.

“While you’re there, you can rape Ukrainian women, just don’t tell me anything. Got it?” she says.

“Can I really?” he asks.

“Yes, I’m allowing you, just use protection,” his wife replies, laughing.

An investigation by Radio Free Europe identified the people on the call as Roman Bykovsky and his wife, Olga, originally from the town of Oryol, about 130km from Moscow. They moved to Crimea shortly after its annexation in 2014.

When contacted, they denied being the couple in question.

The Times