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Russian soldiers have revealed brutal conditions on the Russian side of the Ukrainian front, with two men telling the BBC they watched their commanders execute soldiers who refused orders.
The men on the run recount the horrors they witnessed at an undisclosed location outside Russia in the documentary Zero Line: Inside Russia’s War.
Ilya, 35, taught children with special needs before being drafted into the army to fight in the war. He said he saw four people shot at close range by a commander – an act known in Russian military slang as “zeroing” – as they fled the front lines and refused to return.
These people told us that going to zero was often a punishment for refusing orders and a means of intimidation against those who might want to do the same thing.
Another man, Dima, who also witnessed the execution, said it was “a normal thing” for commanders to kill their own soldiers.
“I saw it – just two meters, three metres. Just murder, just click, click, bang. This is not a drama, this is not a movie, this is real life,” he said.
The Russian government said its armed forces “exercise the greatest possible restraint in situations of high-intensity conflict and take the utmost care of their personnel.” It added: “Information regarding alleged offenses and crimes has been appropriately investigated.” It said: “We are unable to independently verify the accuracy or authenticity of the information you have provided.”
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