For months, the world has been stunned by the egregious and increasingly barbaric behavior of the Russian army in Ukraine, and there is new evidence that suggest that this is no fluke.
Russia’s fighting forces have been engaging in frequent, gruesome war crimes, the breadth and brutality of which has prompted the European Union to call for an international tribunal on the matter.
For many, it has appeared as though the Kremlin is simply committing genocide, and new phone calls intercepted by Ukrainian authorities seem to corroborate that possibility.
Stunning audio intercepted by Ukrainian law enforcement of Russian soldiers calling home reveals potential evidence of war crimes and the rank and file’s pure contempt for Vladimir Putin.
In the shocking audio obtained by The New York Times, the soldiers paint a truly dire picture of their circumstance and rage against the man responsible for putting them there.
The sentiment was grim.
In one call to his girlfriend, Sergey said that he’d been given an order to kill civilians.
“They told us that, where we’re going, there’s a lot of civilians walking around,” he said. “And they gave us the order to kill everyone we see. … they might give away our positions. That’s what we’re f***ing going to do, it seems. Kill any civilian that walks by and drag them into the forest.… I’ve already become a murderer. That’s why I don’t want to kill any more people, especially ones I will have to look in the eyes.”
Russians captured early in the war told their Ukrainian captors that the invasion was indeed a genocide, as planned by the Kremlin.
