"There’s a whole lot of people who refuse to fight": Ukrainian Intelligence intercepts Russian soldier’s phone call

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST 2022, 21:52

In a conversation intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence officers, a Russian soldier deployed in Ukraine is complaining about the high numbers of Russian forces currently deployed in Ukraine who refuse to fight.

Source: an intercepted telephone conversation released by the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine 

Quote: "There are only 11 people left in my platoon; there should be 30. We have a battalion of 320 people but there’s only 52 of us left. Not just because people have been killed or injured, but because some have refused to fight…a whole lot of them."

Details: The Russian soldier who was in Kharkiv Oblast at the time of the call talks about the state of recruitment in the occupiers’ armed forces. He notes that since the restrictions on recruitment have been lifted, only "good-for-nothing" people have been joining.

He also discusses where the soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces come from and notes that there is no-one from Russian-occupied Crimea in his unit.

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