In a single brigade 700 soldiers refuse to return to fight: “The officers order us to kill civilians and ransack houses”
“I, a soldier of the 51460 department, pinned by the guard Frolkin Daniil Andreevich, confess all the crimes I committed in Andreevka, to have shot and robbed civilians, to have seized their phones, and to say that our command does not consider a c … i our soldiers, all the infantry fighting on the front line ». The confession made by a Russian soldier to the online newspaper Istories – with name, surname, rank and face uncovered – seemed incredible. But a few days later, the repentance of the constable Frolkin opened the door to an avalanche: at least 700 soldiers of his brigade would have tried to resign and refused to return to fight in Ukraine, and many of them confirmed to the journalists the story, adding other chilling details. “At least 80% of our boys want to quit, I have already written several resignation reports, but the command sends me to that country,” one of Frolkin’s comrades told Istories.
Hundreds of soldiers are not sent home despite the official request for resignation: some are threatened by the court, others imprisoned and beaten, still others sent back to the front by deception, from where “it is impossible to escape”.
That the Kremlin had big problems finding volunteers for its war in Ukraine was nothing new: the testimonies on the recruitment campaign conducted in the prisons of the Russian Federation are now dozens, in exchange for a pardon after six months. Vladimir Putin dared not proclaim a general mobilization – the dozens of military commissariats set on fire in several Russian cities were a signal of what reservists thought about the prospect of ending up in the trenches – and the former Red Army is looking for new soldiers in schools, in the squares and factories. But the incentives are no longer enough to make up for the losses: the Russian army has not been able to advance for more than a month, and Frolkin explains his confession with the desire to “save the surviving boys, after what I have told they will not send them anymore. to fight in Kherson ».
The comrades of the constable are not just any soldiers: they serve in the 64th motorized infantry brigade, the one stationed in Bucha, the one decorated by Putin specifically to show that his soldiers did not have to fear accusations of war crimes. Frolkin – contacted by reporters after being identified by relatives of civilians killed in Andreevka, in the Kyiv region – confesses to having shot only one Ukrainian, whom he took for a spy, although he says he does not remember the execution well. But together with his fellow soldiers he indicates the names and surnames of the officers who “had given orders to shoot civilians”, to “kill everyone who had a cell phone”, to “steal from homes” and “fill entire trucks with household appliances and furniture.” A way of discharging responsibility on those who gave the orders, but also of earning possible mitigating circumstances in a war that more and more Russians fear they could lose ingloriously. And to provide evidence that can prove invaluable to the international court in The Hague.
It is the revolt of the “orcs”, as the Ukrainians call them, who even before feeling guilty consider themselves victims of the commanders. According to another soldier, Sergey, interviewed anonymously by Istories, no more than a third of his comrades “have realized that we are invading fascists, that this war is unjust”. The others feel betrayed and sacrificed: Pavel Filatyev, a paratrooper from Volgograd, published a 100-page memoir, “Zov”, on the Net, where he tells of an army in disarray, devoid of everything – ammunition, food, uniforms, equipment, gasoline, medicines and updated maps – and launched an assault on old trucks without brakes. Filatiev – who fled Russia immediately after publication – paints a devastating portrait of inefficiency, misery and violence of the “second army in the world”. And lies: even the boys of the 64th confirm that their commanders sent “high” reports extraordinarily inflated, in which a burnt enemy tank was photographed from different angles to become five half-destroyed. A war with fake blows, in the classic Russian tradition of the Potiomkin village, and if these were the lies at the level of the trenches, it remains only to wonder how much the Russian “successes” were multiplied once they arrived on Putin’s desk.
Unlimited access to all site content
€ 1 / month for 3 months, then € 3.99 / month for 3 months
Unlock unlimited access to all content on the site
#soldiers #rebel #tired #dying #Putin