"Gathering Human Trash and Sending Them to the Battlefield"… Complaints of Russian Soldiers

Ukraine Intelligence Agency Releases Recorded Call of Russian Soldier
"Ukrainian Forces Are Formidable... Media Is Hiding It"

There are claims that Russian soldiers deployed on the front lines are voicing complaints about the harsh conditions. This is based on intercepted communications of Russian troops speaking with their families, obtained by Ukrainian forces.

The Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) under the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense posted on social media (SNS) on the 8th a recording obtained through interception, along with a message stating, "A Russian soldier talks about the army's suffering and misery."

The recording contains a conversation between a Russian soldier and a woman presumed to be his wife. The soldier complained, using profanity, telling his wife, "They gathered all the rioters, trash, and prisoners who spent their entire lives in jail in Russia and sent them all to the front lines."

He continued, "The assault brigade sent 16 men forward, but after advancing about 20 meters, they were defeated," explaining that troops who had not received sufficient military training were being sacrificed in battle.

Ukraine War (Photo by Yonhap News)

Since mid-2022, Russia's Wagner Group has been recruiting prisoners from prisons across Russia as mercenaries to fight in the war against Ukraine, offering pardons if they survive six months on the battlefield. The Wagner Group is a Russian private military company (PMC) founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in August last year.

In response, The New York Times (NYT) raised suspicions last year that prisoners who participated in the Ukraine war were illegally pardoned. The NYT reported, "After obtaining and analyzing a copy of a prisoner's release certificate, it was revealed that President Putin pushed for an illegal secret pardon order to recruit prisoners as mercenaries."

The transcript also mentioned that despite the formidable strength of the Ukrainian forces, Russian media have not covered this. The soldier lamented, "They (the Ukrainian forces) may have fewer personnel, but they have more shells and are counterattacking well," adding, "The fact that 600 of our people have died here in the past month and a half has not even been reported on TV."

He also evaluated that the achievements of their own troops were exaggerated. He said, "Sometimes there is no water, but the media says nothing," and added, "They act as if capturing Audiivka means they have taken all of Ukraine."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.