WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT: Russian soldiers who refuse to fight are seen being subjected to horrific punishments, including being starved inside a pit, in new footage from the frontline
Shocking new videos show barbaric punishments being inflicted on men who refuse to fight for Vladimir Putin’s army in Ukraine. In one clip, a man is seen being buried alive as another Russian deserter is ordered to shovel earth onto his “grave”.
By the end, only his head is visible, and he pleads: “I beg you, stop!” The soldier had allegedly escaped from his unit, but was caught by his comrades. An angry commander’s voice is heard telling one man who appears unwilling to take part to “dig faster”, before warning: “you’ll be digging a hole for yourself next” As the victim pleads against his punishment, the digger is told again: “Bury faster! ****.”
READ MORE: Vladimir Putin is a ‘dead man walking’ and ‘won’t meet Zelensky over assassination fears’
The video, which is reported to show the 15th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade of the Russian army, does not show what happened to the man in the aftermath.
Another clip shows three soldiers who refused to fight cowering inside a covered pit. They appear to be malnourished, and desperate for food.
A sadistic Russian officer is heard saying: “Haha, we’re going to feed animals who were trying to ******* escape from us. Let us see these *******s, what they are doing here. They are sitting there.
He asks “so, are you hungry?”, before sprinkling some biscuit crumbs into the pit. One of the desperate refuseniks cups his hands to catch them, then devours the food.
“Take it! Eat,” says the officer. “Look how he eats.”
Another sickening video shows an escapee who had been caught and returned to the 54th Motorised Rifle Regiment, having been tracked down by a ‘crack team’ made up of enlisted murderers recruited from Russian jails. He is chained to his left leg, and dragged by two men.
The chained soldier is told: “I will arrange for you to go to the pit.”
It comes as Vladimir Putin is widely expected to be a no-show at potentially historic face-to-face ceasefire talks with Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul tomorrow.
The Ukrainian president had challenged the Kremlin leader to meet in Turkey in person.
He said: “I will be waiting for Putin in [Turkey] on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses.”
The Kremlin has stated that the “the Istanbul agreements” could serve as a basis for further peace talks but have so far refused to confirm who’s going to Turkey, and whether any delegation would include Putin.
But Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Zelenskyy will only sit down with the Russian leader.Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that “if Putin does not arrive and plays games, it is the final point that he does not want to end the war.”