Russian soldiers forcibly conscripted in 2022 have revealed harrowing accounts of brutality and alleged executions carried out by their superiors on the front lines in Ukraine. The testimonies paint a grim picture of a military willing to sacrifice its own troops in relentless, often suicidal, offensives.
Several soldiers described witnessing the execution of fellow troops who refused orders. “I saw them two, three meters away from me… Then click, clack, bang,” one soldier recounted. These alleged incidents, occurring daily, depict commanders acting as executioners, personally carrying out the killings or compelling other soldiers to do so. The reports come as the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year, with no clear complete in sight.
“I knew them,” another soldier said, referring to those executed. “I remember one of them shouting ‘Don’t shoot! I’ll do anything you want!’” Another soldier confessed to witnessing a mass execution, claiming nearly 20 bodies were dumped in a ditch after being shot by other soldiers.
Dima, a 34-year-old from Moscow who says he was forcibly conscripted by police under threat of imprisonment, stated bluntly, “Obviously they kill their own men, it’s a normal thing.”
Suicidal Missions
Beyond the alleged executions, soldiers also described being tortured after refusing to participate in offensives characterized as “meat storms” – missions designed to overwhelm Ukrainian forces by sending waves of soldiers into battle. The accounts suggest a callous disregard for the lives of Russian troops.
These “meat storms” were intended to flood the front lines with manpower, wave after wave, to weaken Ukrainian defenses. According to one soldier, commanders routinely sent hundreds of men to their deaths. “I saw them sending men, wave after wave, as if they were meat, facing the Ukrainians, so they wouldn’t run out of ammunition and drones and so another wave would hit them,” he explained.
“They send three men, then another three. If that doesn’t perform, they send ten. And if that doesn’t work with ten, they send fifty. Eventually, it will work. That’s the military logic,” the soldier added.
Torture and Humiliation
Soldiers who refused to participate in these offensives reportedly faced torture, including electrocution and starvation, before being forced back to the front lines, sometimes without weapons. While Russia has not released official figures, the British Ministry of Defence estimates Russian casualties and injuries to be over 1.2 million since the start of the war. The allegations, if confirmed, raise serious questions about the conduct of the Russian military and the treatment of its personnel.
