Ukrainian military intelligence recently published audio of what it said was an intercepted phone call in which a Russian soldier accuses his commanders of placing very ill troops from his unit on Ukraine's front lines to serve as "cannon fodder."
The audio was originally posted by Ukraine's military intelligence directorate (GUR) on its Telegram channel January 30, but the Kyiv Post translated the conversation for a Tuesday article.
Newsweek could not independently verify the authenticity of the call, and the Russian Ministry of Defense was emailed on Tuesday for comment.
GUR frequently posts audio of what it says are intercepted communications involving Russian troops. The calls typically serve as examples of low morale among Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces in Ukraine. In December, GUR shared such a clip of two Russian soldiers who express their frustrations about the war by talking about leading a mutiny against the Kremlin.
In the GUR post's description of the recent clip, the intelligence agency identities the speaking soldier as a member of Russia's 5th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade.
According to the Kyiv Post's translation, the serviceman said troops from his unit who were suffering from illnesses like tuberculosis and HIV were ordered to fight ahead of healthier men.
Speaking to another unspecified person, the soldier said commanders "lost the whole f****** company, you killed them all ... stupidly threw in as meat, as cannon fodder."
The speaker also reportedly said he has HIV, while saying many personnel called on to fight from Russia's Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don are seriously ill.
"So here are 16 people who have hepatitis, suspected tuberculosis, lung disease, tumors in their heads," he said, per the Kyiv Post. "HIV—there are two more like that."
The soldier then said a change in temperature caused his immune system to go "astray" because of his virus.
He added in another claim that soldiers who have fought on the front lines and survived are later put into reserve service without getting financial support.
"Two days later, some random guy came, I had never seen him before. He says: 'Guys, if you write a report now that you have no complaints against the top leadership of this new battalion, then you, he says, are going home now. But keep in mind, you will not see the salary for January,'" he said.
"Well, I think, f*** it. I wasn't going to receive it anyway," the soldier continued. "They shouted at me in [Ukraine's] Novotroitske village that I was getting a penalty and I would be thrown back to the front."
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Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
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