'There are many wounded' Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine feeling increasingly demoralized: report

On Thursday, March 31, Reuters reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed an order adding 134,500 conscripts to the Russian Army, although the Russian Defense Ministry is claiming that they “will not be sent to any hot spots.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which started on February 24, is the worst military conflict in Europe since World War 2. But the invasion, for all the suffering it has inflicted on Ukraine, isn’t going well for Russian troops — and those troops, according to Daily Beast News Editor Allison Quinn, are feeling increasingly demoralized.

In an article published on March 31, Quinn uses intercepted quotes from Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine — and those quotes underscore their frustration.

Quinn reports, “Russia’s Vladimir Putin is calling up another 134,500 conscripts even as more and more of his own soldiers appear to be turning on him over humiliating losses in Ukraine.... Russian troops (are) claiming they were misled into the war, and Putin’s own advisers (are) said to be shielding him from the extent of the devastating losses. Even as Putin signed the decree on Thursday, Ukraine’s Security Service released an intercepted call said to capture a Russian soldier railing against the incompetence of his own army.”

During that call, Quinn reports, the Russian solider can be heard saying, “Our brigade has totally shit themselves. There are losses, many wounded…. The whole army with us is stupid morons.”

In a different intercepted call — one reported by Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko — a Russian solider is heard telling his mother, “Everything’s bad. Almost no one among us is left. They said we will keep going until the very end, until everyone is killed.”

When the soldier’s mother asked if his senior officer was still with the unit, he responded, “No, he dumped us yesterday. We’re all dead in the water if he left.”

On March 30, Gerashchenko posted that recording, which is in Russian, on YouTube.

Quinn reports, “The new recordings come just hours after western officials said there was growing evidence of disarray and disillusionment among Russian troops, with Britain’s spy chief citing reports of troops ‘refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.’ It was against this backdrop that Russian defense officials claimed they would cut down hostilities around the Ukrainian capital and shift their focus instead to the east of the country — an announcement met with mockery and skepticism among Ukrainian officials, who said the Kremlin was trying to spin their numerous setbacks into a ‘mission accomplished’ scenario.”