{"id":555704,"date":"2023-02-23T22:24:19","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T19:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/russian-soldiers-in-ukraine-call-home\/"},"modified":"2023-02-23T22:24:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T19:24:19","slug":"russian-soldiers-in-ukraine-call-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/russian-soldiers-in-ukraine-call-home\/","title":{"rendered":"#Russian soldiers in Ukraine call home"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3df3f46ed2b\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3df3f46ed2b\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/russian-soldiers-in-ukraine-call-home\/#Russian_soldiers_in_Ukraine_call_home\" >Russian soldiers in Ukraine call home<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Russian_soldiers_in_Ukraine_call_home\"><\/span>Russian soldiers in Ukraine call home<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 How do people raised with a sense of right and wrong end up involved in terrible acts of violence against others?<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the human mystery at the heart of 2,000 intercepted phone calls from Russian soldiers in Ukraine. These calls obtained by The Associated Press offer an intimate new perspective on Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/dc5ee4b342ce80742c471e19258a2046\" data-ylk=\"slk:year-old war;cpos:1;pos:1\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">year-old war<\/a>, seen through the eyes of Russian soldiers themselves.<\/p>\n<p>The AP identified calls made in March 2022 by soldiers in a military division that Ukrainian prosecutors say committed <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-i13n=\"cpos:2;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/bucha-ukraine-war-cleansing-investigation-43e5a9538e9ba68a035756b05028b8b4\" data-ylk=\"slk:war crimes in Bucha;cpos:2;pos:1\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">war crimes in Bucha<\/a>, a town outside Kyiv that became an early symbol of Russian atrocities.<\/p>\n<p>They show how deeply unprepared young soldiers \u2014 and their country \u2014 were for the war to come. Many joined the military because they needed money and were informed of their deployment at the last minute. They were told they\u2019d be welcomed as heroes for liberating Ukraine from its Nazi oppressors and their Western backers, and that Kyiv would fall without bloodshed within a week.<\/p>\n<p>The intercepts show that as soldiers realized how much they\u2019d been misled, they grew more and more afraid. Violence that once would have been unthinkable became normal. Looting and drinking offered moments of rare reprieve. Some said they were following orders to kill civilians or prisoners of war.<\/p>\n<p>They tell their mothers what this war actually looks like: About the teenage Ukrainian boy who got his ears cut off. How the scariest sound is not the whistle of a rocket flying past, but the silence that means it\u2019s coming directly for you. How modern weapons can obliterate the human body so there\u2019s nothing left to bring home.<\/p>\n<p>We listen as their mothers struggle to reconcile their pride and their horror, and as their wives and fathers beg them not to drink too much and to please, please call home.<\/p>\n<p>These are the stories of three of those men \u2014 Ivan, Leonid and Maxim. The AP isn&#8217;t using their full names to protect their families in Russia. The AP established that they were in areas when atrocities were committed, but has no evidence of their individual actions beyond what they confess.<\/p>\n<p>The AP spoke with the mothers of Ivan and Leonid, but couldn&#8217;t reach Maxim or his family. The AP verified these calls with the help of the Dossier Center, an investigative group in London funded by Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The conversations have been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>In a joint production on Saturday, Feb. 25, The Associated Press and Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting will broadcast never-before-heard audio of Russian soldiers as they confront \u2014 and perpetrate \u2014 the brutality of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-i13n=\"cpos:3;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine\" data-ylk=\"slk:Russia's war in Ukraine;cpos:3;pos:1\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>LEONID<\/p>\n<p>Leonid became a soldier because he needed money. He was in debt and didn\u2019t want to depend on his parents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just wasn\u2019t prepared emotionally for my child to go to war at the age of 19,\u201d his mother told the AP in January. \u201cNone of us had experienced anything like this, that your child would live in a time when he has to go and fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid\u2019s mother said Russia needs to protect itself from its enemies. But, like many others, she expected Russia to take parts of eastern Ukraine quickly. Instead, Leonid\u2019s unit got stuck around Bucha.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one thought it would be so terrible,\u201d his mother said. \u201cMy son just said one thing: \u2018My con<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> is clear. They opened fire first.\u2019 That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the calls, there is an obvious moral dissonance between the way Leonid\u2019s mother raised him and what he is seeing and doing in Ukraine. Still, she defended her son, insisting he never even came into contact with civilians in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>She said everything was calm, civil. There was no trouble at the checkpoints. Nothing bad h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ened. The war didn&#8217;t change her son.<\/p>\n<p>She declined to listen to any of the intercepts: \u201cThis is absurd,\u201d she said. \u201cJust don\u2019t try to make it look like my child killed innocent people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>ONE: Kill if you don\u2019t want to be killed.<\/p>\n<p>Leonid\u2019s introduction to war came on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-i13n=\"cpos:4;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-ukraine-europe-russia-moscow-kyiv-626a8c5ec22217bacb24ece60fac4fe1\" data-ylk=\"slk:Feb. 24;cpos:4;pos:1\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Feb. 24<\/a>, as his unit crossed into Ukraine from Belarus and decimated a detachment of Ukrainians at the border. After his first fight, Leonid seems to have compassion for the young Ukrainian soldiers they\u2019d just killed.<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cWhen did you get scared?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cWhen our commander warned us we would be shot, 100%. He warned us that although we\u2019d be bombed and shot at, our aim was to get through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cDid they shoot you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cOf course. We defeated them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cMhm. Did you shoot from your tanks?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cYeah, we did. We shot from the tanks, machine guns and rifles. We had no losses. We destroyed their four tanks. There were dead bodies lying around and burning. So, we won.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cOh what a nightmare! Lyonka, you wanted to live at that moment, right honey?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cMore than ever!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cMore than ever, right honey?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cIt\u2019s totally horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cThey were lying there, just 18 or 19 years old. Am I different from them? No, I\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>TWO: The rules of normal life no longer apply.<\/p>\n<p>Leonid tells his mother their plan was to seize Kyiv within a week, without firing a single bullet. Instead, his unit started taking fire near Chernobyl. They had no maps and the Ukrainians had taken down all the road signs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was so confusing,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were well prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not expecting a prolonged attack, Russian soldiers ran short on basic supplies. One way for them to get what they needed \u2014 or wanted \u2014 was to steal.<\/p>\n<p>Many soldiers, including Leonid, talk about money with the wary precision that comes from not having enough. Some take orders from friends and family for certain-sized shoes and parts for specific cars, proud to go home with something to give.<\/p>\n<p>When Leonid tells his mother casually about looting, at first she can\u2019t believe he\u2019s stealing. But it\u2019s become normal for him.<\/p>\n<p>As he speaks, he watches a town burn on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuch a beauty,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cLook, mom, I\u2019m looking at tons of houses \u2014 I don\u2019t know, dozens, hundreds \u2014 and they\u2019re all empty. Everyone ran away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cSo all the people left, right? You guys aren\u2019t looting them, are you? You\u2019re not going into other people\u2019s houses?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cOf course we are, mom. Are you crazy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cOh, you are. What do you take from there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cWe take food, bed linen, pillows. Blankets, forks, spoons, pans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: (laughing) \u201cYou gotta be kidding me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cWhoever doesn\u2019t have any \u2014 socks, clean underwear, T-shirts, sweaters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>THREE: The enemy is everybody.<\/p>\n<p>Leonid tells his mother about the terror of going on patrol and not knowing what or who they will encounter. He describes using lethal force at the slightest provocation against just about anyone.<\/p>\n<p>At first, she seems not to believe that Russian soldiers could be killing civilians.<\/p>\n<p>Leonid tells her that civilians were told to flee or shelter in basements, so anyone who was outside must not be a real civilian. Russian soldiers had been told, by Putin and others, that they\u2019d be greeted as liberators and anyone who resisted was a fascist, an insurgent \u2014 not a real civilian.<\/p>\n<p>This was a whole-of-society war. Mercy was for suckers.<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cOh Lyonka, you\u2019ve seen so much stuff there!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cWell &#8230; civilians are lying around right on the street with their brains coming out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cOh God, you mean the locals?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cYep. Well, like, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cAre they the ones you guys shot or the ones &#8230; \u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cThe ones killed by our army.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cLyonya, they might just be peaceful people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cMom, there was a battle. And a guy would just pop up, you know? Maybe he would pull out a grenade launcher &#8230; Or we had a case, a young guy was stopped, they took his cellphone. He had all this information about us in his Telegram messages \u2014 where to bomb, how many we were, how many tanks we have. And that\u2019s it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cSo they knew everything?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cHe was shot right there on the spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cMhm.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cHe was 17 years old. And that\u2019s it, right there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cMhm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cThere was a prisoner. It was an 18-year-old guy. First, he was shot in his leg. Then his ears were cut off. After that, he admitted everything, and they killed him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cDid he admit it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cWe don\u2019t imprison them. I mean, we kill them all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cMhm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>FOUR: What it takes to get home alive.<\/p>\n<p>Leonid tells his mother he was nearly killed five times. Things are so disorganized, he says, that it\u2019s not uncommon for Russians to fire on their own troops \u2014 it even happened to him. Some soldiers shoot themselves just to get medical leave, he says.<\/p>\n<p>In another call, he tells his girlfriend he&#8217;s envious of his buddies who got shot in the feet and could go home. \u201cA bullet in your foot is like four months at home with crutches,\u201d he says. \u201cIt would be awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then he hangs up because of incoming fire.<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cHello, Lyonechka.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: &#8220;I just wanted to call you again. I am able to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cOh, that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cThere are people out here who shoot themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cMhm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cThey do it for the insurance money. You know where they shoot themselves?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cThat\u2019s silly, Lyonya.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cThe bottom part of the left thigh.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cIt\u2019s bull\u2014\u2014, Lyonya. They\u2019re crazy, you know that, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cSome people are so scared that they are ready to harm themselves just to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cYeah, it is fear, what can you say here, it\u2019s human fear. Everybody wants to live. I don\u2019t argue with that, but please don\u2019t do that. We all pray for you. You should cross yourself any chance you get, just turn away from everyone and do it. We all pray for you. We\u2019re all worried.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid: \u201cI\u2019m standing here, and you know what the situation is? I am now 30 meters (100 feet) away from a huge cemetery.\u201d (giggling)<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cOh, that\u2019s horrible &#8230; may it be over soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid says he had to learn to empty his mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImagine, it\u2019s nighttime. You\u2019re sitting in the dark and it\u2019s quiet out there. Alone with your thoughts. And day after day, you sit there alone with those thoughts,\u201d he tells his girlfriend. \u201cI already learned to think of nothing while sitting outside.<\/p>\n<p>He promises to bring home a collection of bullets for the kids. \u201cTrophies from Ukraine,\u201d he calls them.<\/p>\n<p>His mother says she\u2019s waiting for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course I\u2019ll come, why wouldn\u2019t I?\u201d Leonid says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, you\u2019ll come,\u201d his mother says. \u201cNo doubts. You\u2019re my beloved. Of course, you\u2019ll come. You are my happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leonid returned to Russia in May, badly wounded, but alive. He told his mother Russia would win this war.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>IVAN<\/p>\n<p>Ivan dreamed of being a paratrooper from the time he was a boy, growing up in a village at the edge of Siberia. He used to dress up in fatigues and play paintball with friends in the woods. A photo shows him at 12 years old, smiling with a big Airsoft rifle and a slimy splotch of green near his heart \u2014 a sign of certain death in paintball.<\/p>\n<p>Ivan\u2019s dream came true. He entered an elite unit of Russian paratroopers, which crossed into Ukraine the very first day of Putin\u2019s Feb. 24 invasion, one year ago.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>ONE: Ivan\u2019s road to war.<\/p>\n<p>Ivan was in Belarus on training when they got a Telegram message: \u201cTomorrow you are leaving for Ukraine. There is a genocide of the Russian population. And we have to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When his mother found out he was in Ukraine, she said she stopped speaking for days and took sedatives. Her hair went gray. Still, she was proud of him.<\/p>\n<p>Ivan ended up in Bucha.<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cMom, hi.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cHi, son! How \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cHow are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cVanya, I understand they might be listening so I\u2019m afraid \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cDoesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201c\u2026 to ask where you are, what\u2019s happening. Where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cIn Bucha.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cIn Bucha?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cIn Bucha.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cSon, be as careful as you can, OK? Don\u2019t go charging around! Always keep a cool head.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cOh, come on, I\u2018m not charging around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cYeah, right! And yesterday you told me how you\u2019re gonna f\u2014\u2014\u2014 kill everyone out there.\u201d (laughs)<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cWe will kill if we have to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cHuh?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cIf we have to \u2014 we have to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cI understand you. I\u2019m so proud of you, my son! I don\u2019t even know how to put it. I love you so much. And I bless you for everything, everything! I wish you success in everything. And I\u2019ll wait for you no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>TWO: Love and fear.<\/p>\n<p>Russian soldiers had been told by Putin and others that they\u2019d be welcomed by their brothers and sisters in Ukraine as liberators. Instead, Ivan finds that most Ukrainians want him dead or gone. His mood darkens.<\/p>\n<p>He calls his girlfriend, Olya, and tells her he had a dream about her.<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cF\u2014-, you know, it\u2019s driving me crazy here. It\u2019s just that &#8230; You were just \u2026 I felt you, touched you with my hand. I don\u2019t understand how it\u2019s possible, why, where \u2026 But I really felt you. I don\u2019t know, I felt something warm, something dear. It\u2019s like something was on fire in my hands, so warm \u2026 And that\u2019s it. I don\u2019t know. I was sleeping and then I woke up with all these thoughts. War \u2026 You know, when you\u2019re sleeping \u2014 and then you\u2019re like \u2026 War \u2026 Where, where is it? It was just dark in the house, so dark. And I went outside, walked around the streets, and thought: damn, f\u2014- it. And that&#8217;s it. I really want to come see you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olya: \u201cI am waiting for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cWaiting? OK. I\u2019m waiting, too. Waiting for the time I can come see you &#8230; Let\u2019s make a deal. When we see each other, let\u2019s spend the entire day together. Laying around, sitting together, eating, looking at each other \u2014 just us, together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olya: (Laughs) \u201cAgreed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cTogether all the time. Hugging, cuddling, kissing \u2026 Together all the time, not letting each other go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olya: \u201cWell, yeah!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cYou can go f\u2014\u2014\u2014 crazy here. It\u2019s so f\u2014- up, the s\u2014- that\u2019s happening. I really thought it would be easy here, to tell you the truth. That it\u2019s just gonna be easy to talk, think about it. But it turned out to be hard, you need to think with your head all the time. So that\u2019s that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cWe are really at the front line. As far out as you could be. Kyiv is 15 kilometers (about 10 miles) from us. It is scary, Olya. It really is scary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olya: \u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cDo you hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The line drops.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>THREE: The end.<\/p>\n<p>As things get worse for Ivan in Ukraine, his mother\u2019s patriotism deepens and her rage grows. The family has relatives in Kyiv, but seems to believe this is a righteous war against Nazi oppression in Ukraine \u2014 and the dark hand of the United States they see behind Kyiv\u2019s tough resistance. She says she\u2019ll go to Ukraine herself to fight.<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cDo you have any predictions about the end &#8230;?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cWe are here for the time being. We\u2019ll probably stay until they clean up the whole of Ukraine. Maybe they\u2019ll pull us out. Maybe not. We\u2019re going for Kyiv.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cWhat are they going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cWe\u2019re not going anywhere until they clean up all of these pests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cAre those bastards getting cleaned up?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ivan: \u201cYes, they are. But they\u2019ve been waiting for us and preparing, you understand? Preparing properly. American motherf\u2014\u2014\u2014 have been helping them out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cF\u2014\u2014\u2014 f\u2014\u2014\u2014. F\u2014\u2014\u2014 kill them all. You have my blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Death came for Ivan a decade after that boyhood paintball <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In July, a local paper published a notice of his funeral with a photo of him, again in fatigues holding a large rifle. Ivan died heroically in Russia\u2019s \u201cspecial military operation,\u201d the announcement said. We will never forget you. All of Russia shares this grief.<\/p>\n<p>Reached by the AP in January, Ivan\u2019s mother at first denied she\u2019d ever talked with her son from the front. But she agreed to listen to some of the intercepted audio and confirmed it was her speaking with Ivan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wasn\u2019t involved in murders, let alone in looting,\u201d she told the AP before hanging up the phone.<\/p>\n<p>Ivan was her only son.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>MAXIM<\/p>\n<p>Maxim is drunk in some of the calls, slurring his words, because life at the front line is more than he can take sober.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not clear what military unit Maxim is in, but he makes calls from the same phone as Ivan, on the same days.<\/p>\n<p>He says they\u2019re alone out there and exposed. Communications are so bad they\u2019re taking more fire from their own troops than from the Ukrainians.<\/p>\n<p>He has a bad toothache and his feet are freezing. The hunt for locals \u2014 men, women and children \u2014who might be informing on them to the Ukrainian military is constant.<\/p>\n<p>Maxim\u2019s mood flips between boredom and horror \u2014 not just at what he has seen, but also what he has done.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>ONE: Gold!<\/p>\n<p>The only reason Maxim is able to speak with his family back in Russia is because they\u2019ve been stealing phones from locals. He says they\u2019re even shaking down kids.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe take everything from them,\u201d he explains to his wife. \u201cBecause they can also be f\u2014\u2014\u2014 spotters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stuck just outside Kyiv, bored and unsure why they\u2019re in Ukraine in the first place, Maxim and a half-dozen other guys shot up a shopping mall and made off with all the gold they could carry.<\/p>\n<p>Back home Maxim has money troubles, but here his hands are heavy with treasure. He gleefully calculates and recalculates what his pile of gold might be worth. He says he offered a wad of money the size of his fist to Ukrainian women and children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to give it to normal families with kids, but the people out there were drunks,\u201d he tells his wife.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, he handed the cash off to a random, cleanshaven man he thought looked decent. \u201cI told him: \u2018Look here, take it, give it to families with kids and take something for yourself. You\u2019ll figure it out, make it fair.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On calls home, the high sweet voice of Maxim\u2019s own young child bubbles in the background as he talks with his wife.<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cDo you know how much a gram of gold costs here?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cRoughly? About two or three thousand rubles, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cWell, yeah \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cWell, I have 1\u00bd kilograms (more than three pounds). With labels even.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cHoly f\u2014-, are we looters?!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cWith labels, yeah. It\u2019s just that we f\u2014\u2014- up this \u2026 We were shooting at this shopping mall from a tank. Then we go in, and there\u2019s a f\u2014\u2014\u2014 jewelry store. Everything was taken. But there was a safe there. We cracked it open, and inside \u2026 f\u2014- me! So the seven of us loaded up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cI see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cThey had these f\u2014\u2014\u2014 necklaces, you know. In our money, they\u2019re like 30-40,000 a piece, 60,000 a piece.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cHoly crap.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cI scored about a kilo and a half of necklaces, charms, bracelets &#8230; these \u2026 earrings &#8230; earrings with rings \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cThat\u2019s enough, don\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cAnyway, I counted and if it\u2019s 3,000 rubles a gram, then I have about 3.5 million. If you offload it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cGot it. How\u2019s the situation there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cIt\u2019s f\u2014\u2014\u2014 OK.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cOK? Got it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cWe don\u2019t have a f\u2014\u2014\u2014 thing to do, so we go around and loot the f\u2014\u2014\u2014 shopping mall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cJust be careful, in the name of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>TWO: Propaganda.<\/p>\n<p>Maxim and his mother discuss the opposing stories about the war being told on Ukrainian and Russian television. They blame the United States and recite conspiracy theories pushed by Russian state <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But Maxim and his mother believe it\u2019s the Ukrainians who are deluded by fake <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> and propaganda, not them. The best way to end the war, his mother says, is to kill the presidents of Ukraine and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Later, Maxim tells his mother that thousands of Russian troops died in the first weeks of war \u2014 so many that there\u2019s no time to do anything except haul away the bodies. That\u2019s not what they\u2019re saying on Russian TV, his mother says.<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cHere, it\u2019s all American. All the weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cIt\u2019s the Americans driving this, of course! Look at their laboratories. They are developing biological weapons. Coronavirus literally started there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cYeah, I also saw somewhere that they used bats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cAll of it. Bats, migrating birds, and even coronavirus might be their biological weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cThey even found all these papers with signatures from the U.S. all over Ukraine. Biden\u2019s son is the mastermind behind all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cWhen will it end? When they stop supplying weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cMhm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cUntil they catch (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy and execute him, nothing will end. He\u2019s a fool, a fool! He\u2019s a puppet for the U.S. and they really don\u2019t need him, the fool. You watch TV and you feel bad for the people, the civilians, some <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a>ling with young kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mother: \u201cIf I was given a gun, I\u2019d go and shoot Biden.\u201d (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>THREE: War and peace.<\/p>\n<p>The Ukrainian government has been intercepting Russian calls when their phones ping Ukrainian cell towers, providing important real-time intelligence for the military. Now, the calls are also potential evidence for war crimes.<\/p>\n<p>But phones have been dangerous for the soldiers in another, more personal sense. The phone acts as a real-time bridge between two incompatible realities \u2014 the war in Ukraine and home.<\/p>\n<p>In Maxim\u2019s calls with his wife, war and peace collide. Even as she teaches their daughter the rules of society \u2014 scolding the child for throwing things, for example \u2014 Maxim talks about what he\u2019s been stealing. His wife\u2019s world is filled with school crafts and the sounds of children playing outside. In his, volleys of gunfire crack the air.<\/p>\n<p>One night last March, Maxim was having trouble keeping it together on a call with his wife. He\u2019d been drinking, as he did every night.<\/p>\n<p>He told her he\u2019d killed civilians \u2014 so many he thinks he\u2019s going crazy. He said he might not make it home alive. He was just sitting there, drunk in the dark, waiting for the Ukrainian artillery strikes to start.<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cWhy? Why are you drinking?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cEveryone is like that here. It\u2019s impossible without it here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cHow the f\u2014- will you protect yourself if you are tipsy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cTotally normal. On the contrary, it\u2019s easier to shoot &#8230; civilians. Let\u2019s not talk about this. I\u2019ll come back and tell you how it is here and why we drink!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cPlease, just be careful!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cEverything will be fine. Honestly, I\u2019m scared s\u2014-less myself. I never saw such hell as here. I am f\u2014\u2014\u2014 shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cWhy the f\u2014- did you go there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Minutes later, he\u2019s on the phone with his child.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re coming back?\u201d the child asks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course,\u201d Maxim says.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>FOUR: The end?<\/p>\n<p>In their last intercepted call, Maxim\u2019s wife seems to have a premonition.<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cIs everything all right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cYeah. Why?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cBe honest with me, is everything all right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim: \u201cHuh? Why do you ask?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wife: \u201cIt\u2019s nothing, I just can\u2019t sleep at night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maxim is a little breathless. He and his unit are getting ready to go. His wife asks him where they\u2019re going.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cForward,\u201d he tells her. \u201cI won\u2019t be able to call for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Solomiia Hera and Anna Pavlova contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Follow the AP\u2019s coverage of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine at <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-i13n=\"cpos:5;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine\" data-ylk=\"slk:https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine;cpos:5;pos:1\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/news\/never-saw-hell-russian-soldiers-192419043.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russian soldiers in Ukraine call home KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 How do people raised with a sense of right and wrong end up involved in terrible acts of violence against others? That\u2019s the human mystery at the heart of 2,000 intercepted phone calls from Russian soldiers in Ukraine. These calls obtained by The Associated Press&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":555705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/BApIyTVl1bwYVN7D3YAmIQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/ap.org\/918735ab654de48ea083714fa55180b3","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}