Russia’s army continues to suffer from many problems in Ukraine. This is also underlined by repeated intercepted calls from the front. They show how desperate many recruits are about their situation under Ukrainian artillery fire.

The Russian army continues to have major difficulties in Ukraine. This is especially true for the newly mobilized Russian soldiers, who are often sent directly to the front lines without much training. The Ukrainian secret service is constantly publishing intercepted telephone calls from the frontline. They give an idea of ​​the desperation of the Russian recruits.

Soldier: “It’s all shit. Where we are standing, it’s a meat grinder.”

Woman: “Enough. Why are you saying that?”

Soldier: “We’re under attack. In front of us are Ukrainians. On our left are Ukrainians. On our right are Ukrainians. Our superiors forbade us to retreat. We should stand firm to the end. […] We send our dead directly here in whole packages. 17 per day. Damn crap.”

Woman: “Enough now! Why are you saying that?”

Soldier: “You think this is fun. It’s no fun It’s war. We’re lost. Our own boys are shooting at us. We have nothing. Everything is wet, dirty. We have no clothes. We haven’t had water for three days. […] Our leader looks at us with empty eyes. Yesterday we were supposed to take a hill. But how are we supposed to do that when there are three machine guns waiting for us? He said ‘There is an order to take it.’ 17 of us were killed instantly. They had scarcely set foot on the field. We were shot at with grenades when we tried to carry them away. We turned around. Our leader was already gone. He ran 500 meters from us.”

Soldier: “I know what happened in Chechnya. But something like this didn’t happen even there. Bloody hell. It’s so bad.

Father: “They just threw you away.”

Soldier: Everyone here is a nervous wreck. I can not. Dad, look, I’m less worried about myself than I am about my unit. We already have three wounded. […] We are sitting here, being shelled with grenades. And from us? Nothing. No reaction. At best, our comrades will hit us and kill us.”

Father: “No counterstrike?”

Soldier: “There is almost no communication with other units. No coordinates are passed on. It’s complete chaos.”

Father: “I’m losing you. Alright, son, be brave. Don’t get too excited. I’ll do everything from here to help you.”

Soldier: We’re screwed. Totally screwed. It’s so bad. […] The new recruits are all untrained. Couldn’t you have trained them? There are so many specialists in Russia. 100,000. But they sit petrified in Russia. And we are all here without education. Damn, the boys here are all so young. Holy shit.”