Russian troops who have been captured by Ukrainian forces have urged their people to rise up against President Vladmir Putin as they tell the world of fellow soldiers being thrown in mass graves.
A group of Russian soldiers spoke out against their government during a press conference with news agency Interfax-Ukraine, telling fellow citizens to not ‘look at the zombies.’
Alexei Zheleznyak, Mustafaev Mugsad, Igor Rudenko, Alexander Fomenko and others nearly wept as they told the press conference of their opposition to the Russian invasion, according to The Mirror.
He added that Putin ‘is a liar and a deceiver of all our people.’
‘Putin, without declaring war, is bombing residents, hospitals, cities of Ukraine,’ he said, according to translations of the conference.
‘People of Russia, don’t look at the zombies. The Ukrainian people are a brave people. They will stop this (Russian) equipment even without weapons. They are united.
‘No matter how much Putin sends his troops here, he will not capture this territory… Our commander-in-chief is a liar and a deceiver of all our people.
‘He deceived not only us, but the whole of Russia. He simply made fascists out of us.’
Mr Mugsad, of the 34th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Russian Federation, also urged Russian citizens to ignore state propaganda in their home country.
‘People will remember our aggression for centuries,’ he said.
‘People, military men of Russia, finally take off your rose-coloured glasses and see what is happening in Ukraine.’
He also apologised that ‘the troops of the Russian Federation brought grief and destruction, in one day crossing out the peaceful life of the Ukrainian people.’
Mr Rudenko, signalman of the 126th separate coastal defense brigade of the Russian Federation, said the Russian troops had already lost and that the Ukrainian military would ‘destroy’ them.
He claimed that 15,000 have already died in the conflict, which began nearly one month ago.
Official estimates, however, put the figure of causalities much lower.
‘If you (the Russian army) have the honour remaining, do not repeat my mistakes,’ he said.
‘Take the troops away, because Putin does not need us. He does not even take the corpses. They are thrown into mass graves. It’s hard to see.’
Commander of the automobile department of the 126th separate coastal defence brigade , Mr Fomenko, appealed to his fellow citizens to protest the ongoing conflict.
‘Do not be afraid of our government,’ he said. ‘They will not trample on the crowd. Yes, they will detain 10,00-20,000 people, but there are more of you.
‘You can go out and stop this chaos. Peaceful people suffer here, children.’
Russia is yet to respond to the press conference, which follows on from videos of captured soldiers expressing their regret over the invasion.
The conditions the soldiers were under when they appeared at the conference are not clear, and it is not certain whether they were forced or coerced to speak out against the Kremlin. – Daily Mail