Ukrainian military intelligence recently published audio of what it said was an intercepted phone call in which a Russian soldier in the Belgorod region of Russia complains about soldier losses in what he refers to as a “total f****** mess” of a wartime strategy.
The audio was originally posted Tuesday by Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate (GUR) on its Telegram channel, but the Kyiv Post translated the call for a Thursday article.
Newsweek could not independently verify the authenticity of the call, and the Russian Ministry of Defense was emailed on Thursday for comment.
Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions, which sit near the borders of Ukraine, have been the scenes of intense fighting since anti-Kremlin Russian fighters stormed the areas last month. Along with engaging in combat with Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s forces in the two regions, the Kyiv-supporting militias also claimed to have seized control of the village of Gorkovsky.
Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images
The unnamed soldier purportedly speaking in the recording obtained by GUR described his unit suffering heavy losses in Belgorod’s Grayvoronsky District.
“It is a total f****** mess. Completely f***** up,” the soldier said, per the Kyiv Post‘s translation, while talking about the amount of soldiers lost in his unit.
Elsewhere in the call, the solider reportedly talked about the formation of a new Russian military brigade made up of 500 individuals, which he dismissively calls a “gang.”
GUR frequently posts audio of what it says are intercepted communications involving Russian troops. The calls typically serve as examples of low morale among Putin’s fighters in Ukraine. In December, GUR shared such a clip of two Russian soldiers who express their frustrations about the war by talking about leading a mutiny against the Kremlin.
GUR also recently posted a series of purported conversations of civilians in the Belgorod region. The people recorded in the calls complain of not being able to sleep due to the Russian military firing military equipment in residential areas at night.
“They destroyed half of Gorkovsky … And now they’re still doing it,” a Belgorod woman said in the call shared by GUR, according to a translation by the Kyiv Post for a story published on March 15. “They decided to put Grads [rocket launchers] at the intersection near Kirpichne. It’s so loud, it’s like a f****** hailstorm at the intersection.”
She added, “I didn’t sleep a wink tonight, all night long. It’s a nightmare!”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.