Russian soldier cries with his wife |
“The Ukrainians killed everyone”
Since the successful Ukrainian counter-offensive in early September, Russian morale has plummeted.
An intercepted telephone conversation between a Russian soldier and his wife in Russia now makes it clear how bad the mood in the Kremlin army is. The man reports a lack of ammunition, mass deaths and total despair!
The conversation was published by the Ukrainian secret service SBU. Since the beginning of the war, Ukrainians have regularly published intercepted telephone calls made by Russian soldiers and officers. Many of these cannot be independently verified, but are considered credible by experts.
In this conversation, a depressed Russian soldier is talking to his wife. His mood is depressed, his assessment of the situation dramatic: “Every day it gets worse, worse, worse, worse.”
And: “We are becoming less, less, less…”
Russians shoot at their own soldiers
The Russian even blames the mistaken shelling by his own troops for this. A few hours ago, his unit was fired at with artillery by other Russian soldiers. “With Grad rockets,” says the Russian, stunned, and launches a tirade of abuse at his comrades.
You don’t have much to oppose the Ukrainians. The Russians used to be able to fire “10, 20 rockets,” now it’s only “three or four” that can be used in an attack. In other words, the Russians are longing for the old days when they might cover Ukrainian cities with more rockets – but now the supply of rockets doesn’t seem to be enough.
“Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta”, the Russian imitates the shelling of the Ukrainians. The Russian reaction, on the other hand, was just a pathetic “puk-puk”.
The soldier also reports unsuccessful counterattacks that the Russian commanders are forcing their soldiers to carry out. “We stormed the old positions once more today,” the Russian tells his wife. “Again, the Ukrainians killed everyone.”
Russian: We are “just cannon fodder”
The attack was “flooded,” explains the Russian. But the soldiers had no choice but to continue. The commander ordered the attack on the Ukrainians to continue. Otherwise they would be “shot at from behind if they don’t move forward”.
The embittered conclusion of the Russian soldier: You need the men as “cannon fodder, simply as cannon fodder” at the front.
When the woman asks what is happening to the wounded, the Russian makes it clear: anyone who is wounded must see to it that he survives. “They crawl out themselves.” Whoever can do it, has done it. “If not, then you scrape off.”
The Russian army is in such a bad state that the “Ukrainians laugh at us all day,” says the soldier. “They’re not even hiding anymore.”
