A Russian commander could be heard telling his subordinate that cooks are being lobbed to the front as cannon fodder in southern Ukraine’s Hulyaipole front because the latter is useless in an intercepted call.
The call, published by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) on Friday, took place between a Russian soldier and his commander, where the soldier’s plea for help was met with his commander’s sarcastic rejection.
At first, the soldier said he felt weak and requested vehicle transport.
“I can’t start moving. My knees are so weak, I can’t even step on them,” the soldier said.
His commander then mocked the soldier for asking the commander to drive him.
“And you forgot where our evacuation team is. You suggest the company commander to take the wheel and go roll you around. Do I understand you correctly?” the commander was heard saying.
After the soldier insisted he didn’t mean it that way, the commander launched a profanity-laced rant, accusing him of incompetence and saying many had died – including cooks – because of his failures.
“You were told to f**king go so far, get there on your own and from there maybe they will take you. There are no f**king people, everyone has left, the cooks are already going into battle because you can’t f**king win,” the commander was heard as saying.
He then added that other troops were also sent as infantry and died.
“They brought the cooks here, they brought the communication operators, they’ve already f**king killed them. Come and f**king take you,” he added.
HUR did not specify the date and time of the intercepted conversation. Kyiv Post also cannot verify the authenticity of the recording.
HUR said in a press release that Russian advances in the Hulyaipole sector have stalled, citing both Ukrainian defenses and the Russian troops’ “own incompetence.”
At the end of the press release, HUR also promoted a hotline for Russian troops to surrender.
According to Ukraine, Russia has tried to advance in the Zaporizhzhia region in recent weeks but made no significant progress.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said on Sept. 8 that Russia planned large-scale offensives in the Novopavlivka and Zaporizhzhia sectors, but Kyiv troops forced Moscow to deploy the troops to the Donetsk region.
As of August 2025, Russia occupied approximately 73% of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region and 75% of the Donetsk region.