Russian soldier “lost his grip,” shoots at comrades before he’s killed, Ukrainian intelligence says

July 17, 2023

A Russian soldier who “lost his grip” and turned his gun on his own comrades shows the “critical psychological state” of the everyday Russian soldier on the ground in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian intelligence service.

The soldier’s alleged attempt to frag his fellow invaders was described in a 35-second clip of an intercepted phone call that Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) shared on its Telegram channel on Friday, according to Newsweek.

“Hi. Why didn’t you call me yesterday?” one soldier said, according to a translation by the Kyiv Post.

“F–k, yesterday was such a fun evening,” another soldier replied. “The guy from the 12th brigade likely lost his grip yesterday and started f–king shooting us … He said, ‘I’ll f–king kill you, a–holes!’”

“Our guys shot him dead,” he continued. “I had to carry his body.”

It wasn’t clear from the recording if the psychotic soldier managed to kill or wound any of his compatriots.

A screengrab of the post by the GUR that describes an alleged fratricide on the front lines of the Ukraine war.

A Ukrainian soldier looks over a recently-recaptured position as a Russian corpse lays in the background. — A Ukrainian soldier looks over a recently recaptured position as a Russian corpse lays in the background.

A Russian soldier holds a rocket launcher. — Russian soldiers – like the one pictured here – have been fighting in Ukraine since February 2022, when they first invaded their smaller neighbor.

But the GUR pounced on the incident, saying it “reveals the critical psychological state of Russian soldiers.”

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not responded to Newsweek’s request for comment.

An estimated 47,000 Russian soldiers have died during the Ukraine invasion, according to independent Russian media outlets. That’s more than three times as many that died during the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, which started in 1979 and last for a decade.

The report about the alleged shooting emerged alongside other reports detailing the discontent among Russia’s troops, who first invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

A video posted to social media channels last week reportedly showed Russian soldiers complaining that they were punished for refusing to fight because they lacked equipment, Newsweek said.

A Russian soldier fires a rocket launcher. — The GUR said the intercepted call reflects the fragile psyche of the everyday Russian soldier.

A Russian soldier. — The report emerged alongside other reports of discontent among Russian troops.

A Ukrainian soldier in a recaptured Russian trench filled with dead Russian soldiers on the front lines near Bakhmut earlier this month.

Another clip – shared by WarTranslated, an independent media project – showed a Russian unit saying they wouldn’t go back to the “meat grinder” on the front lines, according to the outlet.

“Initially, upon arriving to the SMO [special military operation] zone, we had 150 people,” one of the soldiers said.

“After brutal fights, this is all what’s left us,” the soldier said.

There were less than two dozen others in the frame.