Russian soldiers provide mundane details about the war in Ukraine and about the Russian Military

Communications between Russian soldiers and their families have left a lot of experiences and accounts available for intercept. Many of these intercepts have been packaged into videos with translations, then posted online. The chosen videos below provide a sample of the mundane experiences that individual soldiers relay to their families regarding how the war is playing out for them.

Retreat from Kherson:

One of the Russian Commanders talks to his wife. He delivers the news that his unit retreated a little. The news surprises his wife, as Russian media describes things as going well for the Russians. She thought they were in Dudchany, then Kachkarivka, but the Russians had already left those locations by the time the call was made. Further questioning from the wife gets an admission that the commander’s unit had abandoned the Kherson area on one side of the river.

More on Kherson:

In this communication intercept, a Russian provides more details about his command’s actions relative to pulling out of the Kherson area. We get some details of the battle damage that they sustained. He describes how a drone flew over them, then they received mortar rounds. The Ukrainians are making maximum use of drones in the theater, assigning them different tasks for different purposes.

The second intercept is from the DPR, “Donetsk People’s Republic”, from a pro-Russian soldier. This soldier complained about not receiving the full pay that he was promised. He was not the only one having issues with pay. This soldier’s frustration resulted in his writing a resignation letter. In many of these intercepts, the Russian being recorded declared the intent to write a resignation letter, or that he had already written one.

Many of these intercepts over the past months have described anywhere from a 15% to 25% “remain in unit” rate within a specific command. Many are killed and wounded, others simply quit and just go AWAL.

Russian soldier complains about Russian military leadership:

Think many military and civilian “bosses” are “stupid”? The soldiers in these intercepts criticize their leaders. For example, their leaders have a knack for making the same mistakes repeatedly. After a soldier details his list of complaints, his mother basically advises him to “jump ship”.

The second intercept runs with the same theme. His wife tells him to “start a riot” after he provides his complaints. The soldier relayed a story that involved a commander that did not care that they were being fired at by a tank. This commander just wanted them to shoot without necessarily factoring the tank threat.

Mundane front-line details that surprise family back home:

One of the many common sayings on these intercepts is, “Don’t believe what they tell you on the news.” They’re talking about the difference between what their news say and what is happening on the ground. The Russians are being told that things are going well, and that they are winning.

This soldier also describes issues with provisions, like a 1.5 litter bottle of water being shared among 8 people. The soldiers do not always receive the equipment they need, their supply situation is “bad”. They’re constantly losing vehicles, including to their own mines. His sister touches up on Russia’s violating their own specifications for who would be mobilized.

The soldier in the second intercept describes his unit’s intent to give up 60 kilometers possibly to get it back, but they had previously given up 100 kilometers. They also talk about “cleansing operations” that the Russians do in areas they control. They go house to house, then kill the people that they find. He didn’t appear to differentiate between combatant and civilians. The Bucha massacre describes the results of such a “cleansing operation”.

A soldier mobilized in September provides his personal experience of the war:

Here’s an account of a Russian that was mobilized in September. During the bus ride, some of the conscripts wanted to beat the bus driver up. Some of the conscripts were apparently drunk. They spend 6 days to prepare for deployment, including equipment receipt, 1 day for shooting, and 1 day for tactics. They received rusty weapons but were able to swap them out for usable weapons after they posted complaints on social media.

They arrived at another location supposedly to train for 21 days in preparation for deployment to Ukraine. When they got off the plane, a fat colonel started to shout at them. A few hours’ drive later, they arrived, and they see the fat colonel that yelled at them before. A fat major general accompanied him. He described company commanders and above as being fat with a belly looking like a ball.

During the first 6 to 7 days, folks were drinking and chilling. Instead of the promised 21 days of training, they received 1 day for shooting.

The video provides details, from a Russian soldier’s perspective, of the mundane things that occur from mobilization to deployment to the frontline, details of their training, etc.

For the above soldier’s experience, it was one day for shooting (Because a senior officer was there), one day for medical training (tourniquet use and carrying comrades), and presto! Prepared special forces troops! His assessment of the different militaries? The Russian side is not prepared, the Ukrainian side is prepared. It’s the longest video but is worth the watch.

Reminds me of this scene in “Enemy at the Gates:

“The one with the riffle shoots! The one without, follows him! When the one with the rifle gets killed, the one who is following picks up the rifle and shoots!”

Russian wife asks her Soldier to wear a condom while raping Ukrainian women:

In this audio, a wife allows her Russian soldier husband to rape Ukrainian women, only that he wears a condom while he is at it, and that he does not tell her about it. Are they just kidding around, or is this an actual “green light” to go ahead?

YouTuber “Insights from Ukraine and Russia” compiles these videos, provides the translations, then uploads them to YouTube to inform people of what is being said by Russian soldiers, and pro-Russian soldiers, and their families. Additional videos could be watched here.

Category: International Affairs, Russia