Russian Soldiers Testify About Executions of Comrades and 'Meat Assaults' in Ukraine

Shocking testimonies from four former Russian soldiers reveal a deep level of brutality and lawlessness prevailing within the ranks of the Russian army during the war in Ukraine. The witnesses, who deserted and are currently hiding outside Russia, recorded their accounts for a BBC documentary titled "The Zero Line: Inside Russia's War". Two of them testified that they were eyewitnesses to executions of comrades ordered by their own commanders. One of the interviewees, Ilya, a former teacher, described the details of such an event. The execution was ordered by a commander whom the soldiers called "Gnome" among themselves. The victim was a comrade who refused to carry out an order. Ilya recalled that the order was given without a court-martial, and the execution was carried out immediately. Similar accounts point to a system where discipline is maintained through terror, and soldiers' lives have little value. Another soldier summarized the tragedy of the situation with the words: „Das Traurigste ist, dass ich sie kannte” (The saddest thing is that I knew them) — Former Russian soldier. The soldiers also talk about the widespread practice of (German: Fleischangriffe), known as "meat assaults". It involves sending soldiers in direct assaults on well-fortified Ukrainian positions, often without proper preparation, artillery support, or cover. The goal of the tactic is not to capture territory, but to exhaust the opponent through sheer numerical superiority and psychological pressure on defenders, who must expend ammunition on mass waves of attackers. The practice of using mass infantry in frontal attacks, despite high casualties, has a long and dark history in armed conflicts. It is particularly associated with World War I tactics, where in battles such as the Somme or Verdun, hundreds of thousands of soldiers died in futile assaults on fortified positions. The Red Army during World War II also used similar methods, leveraging enormous numerical superiority, often at the cost of tens of thousands of lives in a single operation. Contemporary reports of "meat assaults" indicate a return to this brutal, archaic logic of warfare. The documentary film, also reviewed by the British "The Guardian", presents a broader picture of a system based on violence, fear, and punishment within the Russian army. It draws a parallel between the trauma experienced by modern veterans and the so-called "Afghan syndrome" that affected Soviet soldiers after the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. In both cases, the state failed to provide adequate psychological care to soldiers returning from the front. The documentary points to deep moral and institutional corruption in the armed forces of the Russian Federation, where human life is treated as a disposable resource. The soldiers' accounts are not isolated; they fit into a broader stream of reports about atrocities and human rights violations committed by Russian troops in Ukraine. These testimonies shed light on the internal dynamics of the aggressor's army and the reasons for the enormous personnel losses Russia has suffered during this war.