In audio intercepts from the front lines in Ukraine, Russian soldiers speak in shorthand of 200s to mean dead, 300s to mean wounded. The urge to flee has become common enough that they also talk of 500s — people who refuse to fight.
As the war grinds into its second winter, a growing number of Russian soldiers want out, as suggested in secret recordings obtained by The Associated Press of Russian soldiers calling home from the battlefields of the Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine.
The calls offer a rare glimpse of the war as it looked through Russian eyes — a point of view that seldom makes its way into Western media, largely because Russia has made it a crime to speak honestly about the conflict in Ukraine. They also show clearly how the war has progressed, from the professional soldiers who initially powered Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion to men from all walks of life compelled to serve in grueling conditions.
“There’s no f------ ‘dying the death of the brave’ here,” one soldier told his brother from the front in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. “You just die like a f------ earthworm.”
Sorry you’re upset that I’m sharing a realistic take on the war instead of buying into the same propaganda you did.
Most people like you get so angry because you don’t want to admit you’re being manipulated.
Awww, it’s almost self-aware, too? 🥹
More than you, lol.
That’s okay. The future will be a learning experience for you.
So what are Russia’s victory conditions?
Why are you asking me that? I’ve only been talking about Ukraine’s victory conditions which they cannot meet. “Nobody realistically believes Ukraine has a chance of taking Crimea without foreign troops assisting them in combat. Ukrainians are relying on conscription just like Russians are. Many of them don’t want to die in a war they have a very good chance of losing.”
If instead you’re trying to say what Russia’s victory conditions are, then just say it instead of asking me lol.