Ukrainian intelligence services have intercepted phone calls from Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine allegedly informing their relatives that they are suffering heavy losses at the front, that they are being bombed, and that the media in Russia is not telling the truth.
The local agency Ukrinform reports a intercepted phone call to a russian military which is located on the front lines in the Ukrainian region of Kherson, now partially occupied by Moscow. “A week ago, our company commander and his deputy were injured, they were not saved. Then their bodies were put in bags and sent somewhere,” the Russian soldier tells his mother, according to the call intercepted by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
The soldier also talks that there are “many victims” on the front lines and that Russian television channels do not report the truth of what is happening in the war. “We have many losses, no matter what they tell you on television”, supposedly says the soldier.
In addition, in other conversations intercepted by the Ukrainian military intelligence, the Russian soldiers complain about the inadequacy of the orders of their commanders to the situation that they live in the front.
Although the Russian authorities have not confirmed the number of casualties they have suffered in their ranks since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the intelligence services of several countries have published various estimates. The Pentagon said on Monday that Russia has suffered between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties, including deaths and injuries, since the beginning of the invasion. The US Undersecretary of Defense, Colin Kahl, specified that the number of Russian casualties is “remarkable” given that they have not achieved “any” of the objectives they had at the beginning of the invasion.
the russian middle Insider has published this Wednesday an investigation after acceding to complaints from soldiers and relatives received by the Russian military prosecutor’s office. In the emails they denounce the atrocities of their own army, that the soldiers are assigned to the front under duress or deception and that they do not receive adequate health care and food, among other things.
Meanwhile, a group of Russian soldiers have publicly accused their superiors of imprisoning them in eastern Ukraine for refusing to participate in the war, in a rare public exposure of tensions within the ranks of the Russian Army around of the invasion.
Maxim Grebenyuk, a lawyer who heads the Moscow-based Military Ombudsman, a military rights organization, says that at least four Russian soldiers have submitted written complaints to the investigation committee, demanding that their superiors in charge of their arrest are punished.
“We already have a list of 70 Russian soldiers who were held as prisoners. In total, about 140 soldiers were held,” says Grebenyuk, who represents the fighters.
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