Russian Soldiers Refuse to Carry Out 'Suicidal Orders'

A Russian soldier stationed in Ukraine said he and other troops from his unit are refusing to follow "senseless and suicidal orders" given to them by commanding officers, according to a video posted Monday.

WarTranslated, an independent media project that translates materials about the war in Ukraine into English, shared the video on Twitter and identified the soldier as a mobilized conscript fighting in the 1428 Regiment deployed to Bakhmut.

Bakhmut has been the site of fierce fighting since last year, but Russian forces claimed to have captured the city in May. However, Ukrainian brigades have reported online they have resumed fighting in the city, which could be seen as a more vulnerable position for Russia in the wake of the Wagner Group's dissolution in Ukraine and a failed mutiny against Moscow.

The video is another recent example of Russian military personnel publicly denouncing the orders they've received. Last week, WarTranslated shared another video in which Russian troops stated they were refusing to fight in what they called the "meat grinder" of the front lines.

Jason Jay Smart—a political adviser on post-Soviet and international politics—told Newsweek that "there has been a steady stream of new videos of Russian soldiers saying that they are being set up for failure, or that they are being sent on suicide missions."

According to WarTranslated, the soldier said his unit of the 1428 Regiment had been punished for a recent defeat against Ukrainian forces, and now they are refusing to engage in further combat due to a lack of training.

"As the regiment commander said, we've been attached to volunteer corps," the Russian soldier says in the video, according to WarTranslated's English captions. "We'd like to immediately announce that we have not signed any contracts saying we're volunteers."

He continued, "We do not refuse to serve but will only complete the territory defense objectives we've been prepared for. We do not want to carry out senseless and suicidal orders."

The soldier then described his unit having their weapons taken away as punishment.

"The senselessness of this order became apparent when a convoy of our servicemen was defeated by artillery when approaching the zero line," he said, using the "zero line" term that Russians frequently use for the battlefield's "front lines."

"Yesterday, representatives of the regiment came to us and demanded we lay down weapons, which we did. We've been waiting for days for the military commandants promised by our regiment," he said. "But without waiting for it, we appealed to the local commandant and military police, asking to evacuate us and start an investigation. But we were told they wouldn't be able to arrest or help us. So we're waiting here for at least some reaction from military organizations."

He then describes their complaints not being reported to superior authorities in Russia's military, adding that lower-ranked officers want to "return us to the regiment base and intimidate us through brutal repression."

Smart told Newsweek, "The truth is that these soldiers are correct: Now that [Yevgeny] Prigozhin's Wagner is off-the-field, the job of being cannon fodder will go to the regular Russian Army.

"Undoubtedly, these soldiers' family members will become worried, learning that it appears that their son or husband is going off, nearly assured of death.

"However, on the bright side: It is good that the Russian population understands how little the Kremlin cares about them or their loved ones."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.