A Russian soldier who plans offensives as part of the invasion of Ukraine said he finds it difficult sending men into situations where he knows they will probably die.
The soldier, Pavel, told The Moscow Times that: “I draw arrows on a map, and the soldiers move forward.”
According to the report, Pavel’s job is to manage antiaircraft systems and plan offensives. This means he sometimes has to send men into an attack knowing that they are unlikely to survive.
“I can’t tell the men, otherwise they wouldn’t fight with the hope of winning,” he said.
The Moscow Times said his eyes were “glistening with emotion” as he spoke about it.
“After all this, you don’t sleep well,” he said.
According to the report, Russia is sending soldiers forward in these attacks in the hope of distracting Ukrainian forces, with the aim of getting them to send soldiers away from its main offensives.
Russia has previously been accused of treating its soldiers as highly disposable.
This includes using “meat wave” tactics, where Russia sends waves of men forward to try to overwhelm Ukrainian positions, to then allow better-trained or more elite soldiers to progress.
Russia is believed to have suffered a much higher casualty rate than Ukraine in the war.
The UK Ministry of Defence said late last month that 500,000 Russian soldiers had likely been killed or wounded since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
It also said that Russia’s average daily casualties were 1,200 in May, the highest numbers so far reported in the conflict.
Pavel spoke to The Moscow Times on a train near Ukraine’s border. Some soldiers on the train were going to the front lines, while others were on a short leave break.
Pavel joined Russia’s military as a volunteer, The Moscow Times reported, after hearing some of his family had been killed by Ukrainian soldiers at the start of the invasion.
He previously worked as a senior specialist at one of Russia’s largest companies, the report said, and had asked for his army salary to be given to an orphanage.
“I don’t want to be paid to kill people,” he told the outlet.
The Moscow Times reported that most soldiers on the train were drinking, including Pavel, and that a fight almost broke out between one of the soldiers and another passenger.
Other soldiers on the train described brutal conditions, with huge Russian losses.
“Many young guys I knew are dead, they weren’t even 30,” one soldier, Yegor, said.
Another who was on his way back to the front line showed a gunshot wound in his chest that was not properly healed yet.
“I probably won’t make it this time,” he said.
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