In an interview published yesterday (Wednesday) on CNN, Russian soldiers captured during the fighting in Ukraine expressed reservations and remorse for their country’s actions. According to the report, the interviewees’ statements in the article were similar to those raised by other Russian POWs – all of whom felt that they were caught in a war they did not want to fight.
The Russian prisoners were brought by the Ukrainian authorities to a press conference to discuss their roles in the invasion. Human rights groups protested the demand for the prisoners to speak, but CNN stressed that Ukrainian security service personnel did not press the soldiers in the article, nor were they handcuffed or under any physical barrier at the time of the interview. Despite the clarification, things should be taken with limited guarantee in view of the possibility that the prisoners felt an urge to express sympathetic opinions towards their captors.
Maxim, a pilot in one of the Russian Air Force bombers, said: “The treatment we received was fine. We were offered food, drink and medical treatment.” He said he received the secret battle order just one day before Vladimir Putin ordered a “special military operation” against Ukraine.
Maxim thinks of the war because “Putin and his immediate circle need it to achieve their goals. They thought that if they spread disinformation about Nazism and fascism it would help them. We have not seen any Nazis or fascists. We speak the same language, so we see the good in Ukrainians “.
A patrol officer named Vladimir called on Russian fighters to lay down their arms and not come to Ukraine: “Everyone here wants peace.” He sent a message to Putin: “Stop the terrorist attacks in Ukraine, because when we return home we will revolt against you.” Another Russian prisoner also warned Putin: “You will not be able to hide. There are many like us here, sooner or later we will return home.”
Maxim also referred to the damage done to the Ukrainian population following the invasion: “It is not just to overthrow or defeat Ukraine. Entire cities of peaceful citizens are destroyed. What can justify the tears of a child or the death of innocent, of children?”. On what is happening in Mariupol, the prisoner attacked: “It is a crime, horrific. It is impossible to forgive such things. To bomb a maternity ward? It is a distorted neo-Nazism.” Another pilot, Alexei, quietly added: “It does not really depend on us who to bomb, it is an order.”
In the West it is estimated that the Russian army suffers from severe moral problems. “In my unit they are totally against it,” Maxim said. “They have many relatives and friends in Ukraine, and they were told it would be a local operation for the Donetsk region only – and not an attack on the whole country. My division was totally against it. If Ukraine wanted to become part of Russia, create some cooperation – then happily, no one “It was not against it. But to force them – it is simply not acceptable.”
The pilot added that one of the difficulties he encountered was identifying the targets. “It is impossible to really know what is beyond the borders of our country. For example, we are marked with a pillar of tanks. But we can not be sure whether they are really there or not,” he claimed. “I used the regular bombs, of the same type that were used in World War II with some changes here and there over the years. There are more modern types, of course, but we did not use them.”