Soldiers unpack:

Russians fight like “Terminators on prostheses”

A Russian soldier fires on Ukrainian positions.

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Since the fall of 2022, Russian soldiers have been The contracts concluded with the Ministry of Defense are open-ended and they will fight to the bitter end. Even those who have suffered serious injuries - and miraculously escaped death - will be called back to the front.

"You can only resign now if you have no hands or no feet or simply no head," a contract soldier tells the "Bereg-Kooperative", an association of independent journalists.

"In our unit, they do what they want: Recently, they waved a piece of paper in front of their faces, supposedly signed by the (Russian, note) president, saying that you don't have to have two arms or two hands to be deployed. However, the document is not handed out so that nobody can read it," explains the Russian.

As long as he's not running around like the Terminator on prostheses, he'll fight!

Russischer Vertragssoldat über einen Bekannten

Another contract soldier confirms the horrendous conditions in the Russian ranks. They were fighting "with hepatitis, with HIV, without hands, without feet, with splinters in their heads. I had an acquaintance who had three fingers shredded off his left hand. He was sent back - and a week later half of his right hand was shredded off as well! Never mind, he's now getting a prosthesis - and will be sent back into battle. As long as he doesn't run around completely like the Terminator, on prostheses, he'll fight!"

The Kremlin lures with lots of money
Despite the lack of a further wave of mobilization so far, there is no shortage of supplies for the front. This is because the Kremlin is providing high financial incentives. Payments to contract soldiers are constantly being increased. In some regions, the one-off payments already amount to several million roubles, and the monthly salary also significantly exceeds the average income in the country.

In August, Andrei and a few other contract soldiers were sent to the front line to rescue a wounded man. He describes how the wounded soldier was lying miserably in the trench. According to him, shrapnel had destroyed his spine and pelvis. All he could do was cry out in pain.

Russian soldiers in an apartment in Ukraine

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

"We threw him into the nearest trench and ran there ourselves," Andrei recalls. But then grenades and Molotov cocktails were used against them. "Everything started to explode, it started to smoke," Andrej remembers. Everyone ran away and whistled (at the injured, ed.) - "everyone there was only looking out for themselves".

Andrej describes how he had a splinter in his upper arm and was unable to rescue the wounded man on his own. "He asked me to stay with him. I felt so sorry for him that it brought tears to my eyes, but there was nothing I could do. So I ran away - and the trench went up in flames."

Unbelievable cynicism
The situation calmed down again the next day. Andrej says that he returned to the trench and discovered a burnt body. Two weeks later, the body was recovered and handed over to the unit. "We went to the commander, told him about it - and he just said: That's okay, let's add him (the deceased, editor's note) to the missing persons," Andrej recounts in dismay. 

They were forced to confirm this with a signature. "Even though the man was burned alive in front of us! And was lying there in a black bag," says the shocked Russian. It was then that he first entertained the idea of resigning from the military - but quickly came to the conclusion that this was unfortunately virtually impossible ...