Russians Fighting for Ukraine Vow To 'Destroy the Putin Regime'

Russian fighters serving in the Ukrainian armed forces are vowing to use a future victory in Ukraine as a springboard to collapse President Vladimir Putin's regime in Russia, a spokesperson for one unit has told Newsweek.

Soldiers of the Freedom of Russia Legion—formed weeks after Russia's latest invasion of Ukraine began in late February—number in the hundreds and have been involved in some of the most intense fighting of the war in east Ukraine, he said.

Caesar—the military callsign of the spokesperson and fighter who was unwilling to share his real name due to security concerns—said the Legion now has "two fully-fledged combat units" in Ukraine, which they hope will ultimately form the vanguard of a new Russian revolution.

"This is our main task," Caesar said of the ambition to unseat Putin. "The armed forces of Ukraine will liberate the Donbass and Crimea, but will not go further. And we will go to liberate our home—Russia—in order to destroy the Putin regime and establish a new free country in Russia, so that from the territory of Russia there is no longer a threat to the outside world."

Caesar refused to share the exact fighting strength of the Legion citing operational security, but said it is made up of "hundreds of well-armed fighters" with new recruits "constantly being prepared to join us at the front."

The level of interest has surged since Putin's mobilization order, Caesar said, and the total number of membership applications has now topped 5,000.

Among its number are Russian prisoners of war, "including those who specifically surrendered in order to fight for Ukraine," Caesar said. "Each candidate goes through a serious multi-level selection. Random people do not come to us."

Newsweek was unable to independently verify Caesar's claims. The secrecy surrounding the unit has prompted Russian state media and pro-Kremlin social media users to suggest that the Legion is more a PR exercise than an effective combat formation. Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in June that the Legion had a "few hundred" members.

The Legion's Telegram channel has more than 127,000 subscribers, and is dominated by fundraising posts and appeals urging mobilized Russians to surrender or defect.

It regularly posts photos and videos of its fighters training with weapons including rifles, drones, anti-tank weapons, and mortars, as well as images showing members posing with captured Russian prisoners of war.

For those who are chosen to fight, secrecy is vital to protect themselves as well as friends and family still in Russia.

Russian state media agency RIA Novosti reported in September that security forces had conducted searches at the homes of the suspected moderators of the Legion's Telegram channel.

"That is why the fighters of the Legion do not reveal their faces and names," Caesar said.

The Legion, which fights under a white-blue-white tricolor flag, stands for democracy, individual liberty, and against separatism within Russia, according to its Telegram posts.

In August, the Legion signed a cooperation agreement with the little-known National Resistance Army, which has claimed several guerrilla attacks inside Russia including the assassination of Darya Dugina. The two groups agreed to work together coordinated through a central body led by dissident expatriate lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev, who told Newsweek this month that he is coordinating closely with both the Legion and the NRA.

Caesar said captured Russian soldiers are often "surprised" when they come into contact with Legion fighters. "We explain that they live in slavery and are fighting to expand their concentration camp," he said.

Caesar said Legion fighters are ideologically diverse but share in fierce anti-Putinism. "Our people hold different views, but we are united in our rejection of the Kremlin dictatorship and the desire to reformat Russia," he said.

"Our country must become a democratic power, but for this, a reboot of the entire political and social system, lustration, decolonization, de-imperialization and a complete constitutional re-establishment of the state must be carried out."

Others who have joined the group cite their unwillingness to be part of Russia's latest war of aggression, or their belief that this conflict will prove the beginning of Putin's end. Former vice president of Gazprombank Igor Volobuyev, for example, told the Guardian in June: "I could not be part of this crime."

Caesar said the Legion has been fighting around the eastern cities of Kharkiv—from which Ukrainian forces launched a stunning counteroffensive in September—and Severodonetsk, where Ukrainian troops were forced back over the summer by a grinding, artillery-driven Russian advance.

Now the Legion is in combat near Bakhmut, Donetsk; the focus of a stalled and bloody assault led by mercenaries fighting for the Wagner Group.

Volunteers are serving in various roles including reconnaissance and artillery support—often using drones—and assault, Caesar said.

"Fortunately, there are no casualties yet, but there are wounded," Caesar said of Legion members. "We inflict significant losses on the enemy, which are many times greater than ours."

Ukrainian troops are still pushing into Russian-occupied territory in the east and south of the country as winter approaches. Putin is hoping that his mobilized troops will slow Kyiv's progress long enough to stabilize the front while Moscow intensifies its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and seeks to destabilize Western support for Ukraine.

Caesar said the new arrivals are damaging the overall Russian fighting force. "If you dilute gasoline with water to increase its quantity, then the car will simply break down," he said. "The already broken Russian military machine is diluted with mobiks."

The new forces are, he said, poorly equipped and physically and mentally unprepared. "Their main task is to plug holes in the front or serve as bait for Ukrainian artillery," Caesar said. "The quality of Russian formations is declining, and the average daily losses have at least doubled since the start of mobilization."

Increased casualties—particularly among units from metropolitan centers like Moscow and St. Petersburg—will accelerate Putin's downfall, Caesar said. "Then the peoples of Russia will have a chance to completely reformat the state and make Russia a state for the people, and not for officials and security officials."

Caesar responded bluntly to the suggestion of peace talks. "For those who advise peace negotiations, I advise you to go to Bucha, Irpin, Kharkiv, Izyum, Mykolaiv and other cities and villages of Ukraine which have experienced all the delights of the 'Russian world,'" he said.

"Let them talk on this topic with local residents, express their ideas to them. And if they are not torn apart there, then they will change their minds radically."

The quickest way to expedite the end of the battle against Putin's "absolute, refined, infernal evil" is to "give Ukraine more weapons," he added.