The image of being the world’s “second strongest army” that the Russian army used to cultivate has been shown to be a complete sham. Russia’s military is not as scary as it thought it was.
Quite the opposite: it looks more like an army of looters that is, in its nature, a crowd of randomly conscripted individuals who dream about escaping the war.
The best evidence for this is provided by the Russian soldiers’ own phone conversations with their relatives. Those conversations tell an interesting story about moral degradation within the Russian armed forces. The phone recordings are provided by Ukraine’s security services, which intercept them with the latest telecommunication technology.
Read also: Five faces of Russian killers involved in the murder and rape of Ukraine’s Bucha
Combatants from “Putin’s victorious armada” are not talking about patriotism anymore. They don’t discuss morale or own desire to win. Instead, they talk about stolen goods, stupid commanders and huge losses. Besides that, they are dreaming of going back home to Russia.
NV collected the most shocking confessions of the Russian invaders that were intercepted recently.
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– I don’t know whether I’ll be able to take everything with me, I’ll need to get over the border. And I have lots of stuff. As soon as we invade the city – any house is yours, just come in. I’ve collected some dollar cash this way. Will be back, will go to currency exchange. By the way, is gold getting more expensive?
– At the beginning of the war it was growing in price. Now back to where it was. Bud don’t worry: gold is always in demand. Not like the Russian ruble.
Read also: Chornobyl NPP director reveals the extent of looting by withdrawn Russian forces
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– Those dudes just came over, f****ng sh*t. They come over these days, rape the whores, rob. And now there’s this one dude from Pskov, he’s in St. Petersburg now. So… He came over, you know, raped a whore, killed her and robbed. So much f****ng sh*t with looting.
***
— In the morning we did our offensive operation. We had intelligence report – no Ukrainian soldiers there, no mines, nothing. So we moved forward. Our tank was going in front of us. And the tank was shelled immediately. It moved to the left and hit a mine. Tank personnel got out – and were hit by shelling. Next two tanks joined the mess. Out battalion commander was wounded, we had to evacuate him. Five people from infantry stayed with us. Others refused to do anything… It’s like hell here. Our generals just want us to move forward, to keep moving. But all of us, including tanks personnel, refuse to do it, we tell the generals: “We’re not going anywhere.”
Read also: Desertion, looting on the rise in Russian units as advance on Kyiv stutters – Ukraine’s army command
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— Our generals will have their heads cut off for their poor work, you know.
– Of course.
– (The Ministry of Defense) will come to its own conclusions. Putin has just been fooled! That’s why we failed at the very beginning.
***
— I’m going insane. I want to go home. I’m waiting until the end of May – and that’s it. If not, I’ll just pretend I harmed my foot and will get a ticket home. I’ll call you – and then you’ll make phone calls to the various commanding offices, that’s it.
Read also: What is known about scale of sexual violence committed by Russian troops in Ukraine
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— So, that’s the thing. There was this one general who visited us near Izyum (in Kharkiv oblast). He gave an order for our tanks to move on like “Be quick, attack!” – and they just went into a minefield. Half of our brigade was lost, it was just burned. One of the soldiers was so mad that he got in a tank and drove over the general’s feet. The general died in the hospital later.
***
— The Russian Guard from Moscow Oblast and tank servicemen from Boguchar (in Voronezh oblast) were shooting at each other, killing each other right there, on the field. All were killed, that’s it.
– I heard about it.
– During the first month of the war we were completely shocked. We move on and then just start shooting each other, then if we’re successful – we have a chance to get away. Our rangers didn’t even come to Izyum (in Kharkiv oblast). They’re lost somewhere, though supposed to be our elite forces. They’re probably defending some bushes somewhere.
***
— So, just looting the locals. They stole a motorbike, drove around.
– Are you taking away the gold? Gold here is like 10,000 rubles per gram.
Read also: Day 69 of Putin’s war. Russia starts storming AzovStal, two civilian women died
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— I’m completely shocked, how you can live like that. Everything is bombed. Simply everything, all things are bombed. Izyum (in Kharkiv Oblast) – it’s a city like Voronezh (in western Russia). Now it’s just ruins in Izyum. Just ruins. Ruins, and the ground has holes from the bombs. Only old people survived.
– Kharkiv is also a big city.
– Kharkiv is f***ed. It’s been bombed severely. For a whole month, it’s been bombed.
Read also: Terror and looting in the farming villages that bore the brunt of Russia’s eastern push towards Kyiv
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— We have only one tank left in our division. We had another one but broke it ourselves, so we wouldn’t be deployed. Armored vehicles went on without us, a lot of the people in those vehicles got killed and as many got wounded, they’re in a very serious condition.
– Good job! Break the tank into parts and bring them back for recycling – that’s the only way for you to survive.
***
— They are scared. Our officers are scared. One of them got himself a hiding place in a private underground facility. From there, he makes his orders. He never paid a visit to a battlefield.
– So, when you just arrived, that officer just escaped? That’s when eight people got imprisoned by Ukrainians?
– Yes.
– That’s him? I see. And he’s been promoted to the colonel rank, right?
– Yes, he’s a colonel now and received the Order of Bravery.
Read also: Bucha mayor reveals preliminary results of the inspections of massacred civilians
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— 1,350 (that’s the officially recognized number of Russian personnel losses by Ministry of Defense in Moscow)? What are you talking about? We lost 14,000 during the first stage of the war. KAMAZ trucks came over to take out all the corpses. They were all covered so we wouldn’t see the dead bodies. Those trucks were leaving blood on the road surface as they were driving the roads. Corpses were put into bags – as some were torn to pieces. F****ng sh*t.
***
— They are trying to motivate us with money. On the 10th, they are going to increase our salaries: RUR 8,000 a day, and then from May 1 – RUR 15,000 a day. While if you refuse to serve, you won’t get paid at all.
***
— All the normal guys were killed or wounded. Only idiots survived. It’s so hard here. No normal people around, some just walked away from the battlefield.
***
— You said you would reach a village, I mean, a river.
– To reach the river, we need to cross four or five villages. Seems to be easy, but for us to walk one kilometer takes two hours if we’re shelled. We lost our fuel truck yesterday. Our artillery is the worst in the world.
– Why?
– It misses all the targets.
***
— So what are your trophies?
– Not f****ng much. Three laptops.
– Where are you going to f****ng use them? Get them pickled?
***
— Very few survived, dad, very few. Initially, our military group had 52 people and now there’s only 17. If you take into account all the personnel deployed with armored vehicles, we had 350 people. Now less than 100 are alive.
– That’s f***ed up. Are you officers doing a good job?
– All the officers who were able to do a good job left us here.
***
— Vlad, I beg you. You’ve probably listened to your division commander too much, he’s talking sh*t.
– Yes, he tells us to go f*ck ourselves.
– Just refuse to execute his orders. You’ve had enough. You’ve invaded all the towns that you could. Sweetie, please, come back. Come home, Vlad. Did you understand me?
– How can I come back? We have only two options here, Yulya, both are bad.
