Demoralised Russian soldiers tell of anger at being 'duped' into war

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) Five Russian soldiers sit in a brick building. They are blindfolded: the latest prisoners to be captured inside Ukraine. A Ukrainian voice interrogates them. “Speak,” he says to the group’s Russian officer. What message would he like to send to his soldiers and to Russians back at home?

“Frankly speaking, they tricked us,” the officer replies, referring to his military superiors sitting in Moscow. “Everything we were told was a fake. I would tell my guys to leave Ukrainian territory. We’ve got families and children. I think 90% of us would agree to go home.”

The three-minute video was filmed under conditions of duress. The soldiers are evidently scared. And yet there are numerous similar interviews with Russian captives which have been circulating on Ukrainian social media channels, expressing similar sentiments.

....(snip)....

But low morale among invading troops might be one reason why Russia’s blitzkrieg plan to overwhelm Ukraine appears not to have progressed at the speed Putin would have wanted. The assumption in Moscow was that the operation would be swift and successful. Soldiers were given food and fuel supplies for only two or three days, the videos suggest.

The Kremlin also appears to have had a totally fantastical idea of the reception they would get. Several prisoners of war said they had been assured Ukrainians would welcome them as liberators. Russian forces were expecting flowers and cheers, not bullets and bombs, they said. ...............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/russian-soldiers-ukraine-anger-duped-into-war

[uponit7771]

1. "welcome them as liberators" ... Putrid is petulantly using Iraq war flawed reasoning to attack UKR

[hollygolively]

6. Yep, sounds like Putin is using W's playbook.

Bush/Cheney lied to our troops and public. Putin has done the same. Bush lied about WMD, Putin is lying about Nazis.

[uponit7771]

7. +1, we had the same overall plan too 1. attack Iraq ... 3. Iraqis will love us and now Putler is ...

... doing the same thing on a different day expecting different result.

UKR has EU's second largest FF reserves

[SheltieLover]

2. Kicking for visibility

[underpants]

3. Lots of these videos but playing devils advocate- they could have been told to say this

or they may just be playing dumb. Just saying.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Except the Russian military is notorious for treating people like shit

The cause of Russia’s military debacle in Ukraine however lies in its callousness towards human life, Ukrainian and Russian. Throughout the war in Donbas, the families of Russian soldiers killed in action were told their relatives had died in training accidents. In Syria, Russia orchestrated the targeting of civilian infrastructure to break the will of the resistance, while waging a relentless propaganda campaign against civilian medical organisations trying to save lives.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/04/russias-callousness-towards-its-own-soldiers-is-undermining-its-combat-power?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[UTUSN]

5. If they get back to ruskia may they spread the word and fight for THEIR freedom!

[iemanja]

8. These statements were taken under duress

They cannot be relied on and should not be celebrated. There are laws against this sort of thing.