A Russian commander, supposedly serving in a higher rank, orders troops to “mercilessly wipe out” anyone disrupting mission objectives in an intercepted call released by Ukrainian Military Intelligence (HUR) on Monday, May 26.
“Can you pass this on to the guys now? Everyone who interferes, anyone who disrupts the task with whining or any other actions – wipe them out mercilessly,” the commander barks in a harsh tone.
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The caller expresses frustration with soldiers who constantly complain and refuse to follow orders.
“They came there and kept whining the whole time. No matter what we told them – how to do it, how to do it better – they didn’t care at all. They listen to no one, and now they’re trying to whine to get us to take a break or smoke,” he says.
The commander vows to deal ruthlessly with those causing delays: “We’ll wipe out a couple of such comrades, and the rest will shut the hell up.”
These intimidation methods hearken back to Soviet-era Red Army use of a rear echelon line of “barrier troops” in World War II, especially at the Battle of Stalingrad, who were ordered to kill their own retreating soldiers.
Earlier, the I Want to Live [Хочу жить] project – a Ukrainian state-run helpline receiving appeals from Russian and Belarusian service members wishing to surrender – published another intercepted conversation, exposing the brutal reality of life in the Russian Armed Forces.
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In the call, one of the speakers, a soldier, explains that there was a problem within his group: “He 500-ed,” the soldier says.
In Soviet/Russian military slang, “pyatsot” (пятьсот) or “500” means refusal to obey orders. According to the speaker, one of his comrades turned on a radio against orders, revealing the group’s position.
“We already took his stuff, thought he was a 200,” says one of the soldiers, implying they had considered this soldier already dead, again using Soviet-era military slang.
“He must’ve been killed, must’ve been shot,” the soldier says, indicating that the man’s belongings had already been divided among the group.
Another soldier mentions that the man is supposedly “waiting for an extraction,” meaning he expects to be pulled back from the front. Nevertheless, the first soldier pushes: “He needs to be shot. He needs to be watched and shot.”
According to I Want to Live, conversations like this reveal the true atmosphere within the Russian Armed Forces.
“In the Russian army, your only choice is how you will die – at the hands of Ukrainian soldiers, your own comrades, or by suicide,” I Want to Live wrote in its post on Telegram.
Earlier last year, Kyiv Post interviewed Maria* who works as one of Ukrainian intelligence’s professional eavesdroppers and spoke about the shocking things she hears.
Russia regularly dismisses the content of intercepted calls published by Ukraine, saying they are fake, a claim Kyiv Post put to Maria*. She said: “They are all are real even though they might seem insane. Sometimes I can’t believe the words I’m hearing myself, but we have what we have.”
Kyiv Post regularly reposts some of the most revealing and shocking intercepted conversations. Check out more intercepted conversations:
‘They Drive Tanks for Vodka’ – Intercept Reveals Drunk Russian Troops Terrorizing Border Village
‘We Need to Take Odesa’ – Russian Woman Cites Fake ‘Biolabs’ to Justify Mykolaiv Attacks
‘The F**king Guys Are Dying!’ – Intercepted Call Reveals Chaos and Command Breakdown in Russian Army
‘They Even Ate Theraflu, Mom’ – Intercept Reveals Russian Soldiers Starving on Front Lines
‘Finally Those Bastards Are Getting Hit’ – Border Russians Revel in Moscow’s First Taste of War
Russian Soldier Threatens Deserters With ‘Meat Assault’ Suicide Mission: ‘That’ll Be Fun, Right?’
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