Intercepted Russian radio messages caught weary troops complaining of being vastly outnumbered – and being ordered to ‘f-king kill’ civilians, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
“Civilians, everyone, kill them all!” a Russian commander barked at his underlings during the brutal attack on Mariupol, according to a clip released Wednesday by Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU).
According to the intelligence service’s personal translation, the intercepted audio began with a soldier alerting his boss to the fact that a car passing by was full of individuals dressed as civilians.
“F-king, kill ’em all, for f-ks love!” the obvious boss snaps, as per the SSU translation.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, motherfucker?” he said angry at their obvious reluctance to have to slaughter civilians, according to the clip.
A third man was captured in another clip complaining that it’s “so screwed up” they are forced to advance on a village where they know they are vastly outnumbered by the defending Ukrainians.
“What happens now? They are on the left, on the right, they surround us,” he said.
According to the SSU translation, the soldier admits he is “worried” because there are “so many” Ukrainians, while he and his Russian comrades “have no f-king support.”
“Nothing, no f-king aviation,” he says, with a colleague agreeing and also swearing at the obvious doomsday scenario.
He expressed fears he would be forced to head towards around 150,000 Ukrainians when he doubted there were even 3,000 Russians in his convoy, the SSU said.
Despite the fears aroused, Russia has been accused of killing more than 5,000 people in and around Mariupol, mostly through an almost stationary bombardment of airstrikes – hitting hospitals, colleges and shelters carrying the words “CHILDREN”.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has reported growing opposition from Russian troops who feel they are being ordered to perform barbaric tasks while being unnecessarily threatened with aging tools.
Even the advantage with which Ukrainian intelligence intercepts radio conversations means the Kremlin has provided its forces with outdated industrial radio tools or walkie-talkies, the Times of London said.
Military expert Frederick Kagan of the Institute for the Study of War says history will long remember Russia’s failures at a time when it was supposed to have one of the strongest armies in the world.
“It’s breathtaking,” he said.
With post wires
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