Russian soldiers have broken ranks to expose chilling claims from the front lines of the war in Ukraine — alleging comrades were executed on commanders’ orders for refusing to fight.

Four men, now on the run and speaking to the BBC in the documentary The Zero Line: Inside Russia’s War, describe a world of summary shootings, torture and so-called “meat storms” — relentless assaults they say bordered on suicide missions.

Two of the soldiers say they witnessed executions carried out at point-blank range.

“I see it — just two metres, three metres… click, clack, bang,” one man recalls.

Another says he watched his commander shoot four men who had fled the front line and refused to return.

“I knew them,” he says. “I remember one of them screaming ‘Don’t shoot, I’ll do anything!’”

The Russian military uses the slang “zero” for executing its own, the men claim. One says he saw 20 bodies dumped in a pit after being “zeroed” by fellow troops.

One of the whistleblowers, identified as Ilya, says he was mobilised in May 2024 from Perm alongside 78 other men. A former teacher of children with special needs from Kungur in the Urals, he says he was terrified from the start.

Upon arriving in Russian-occupied Donetsk, he says he saw four soldiers shot by a commander in Panteleimonivka and Novoazovsk for refusing orders. He claims those who resisted were starved, electrocuted or thrown into assaults unarmed.

“Your fate depended on your commander,” Ilya says. “The commander is on the radio: ‘Zero this one, zero that one.’”

Another soldier, Dima, says he was forced into service in October 2022 after police stopped him in Moscow. Assigned to the 25th Brigade, he claims he witnessed executions ordered by his commander, Alexei Ksenofontov — who was awarded the Gold Star and named a “Hero of Russia” in 2024.

Families of dead soldiers wrote to President Vladimir Putin in January 2025 alleging brutality in Ksenofontov’s unit. Dima calls him a “butcher”.

He also claims 20 ex-convict recruits were shot and their bank cards taken. “It’s not a problem to write off someone,” he says.

The UK Ministry of Defence estimates more than 1.2 million Russian troops have been killed or injured since the full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022, with 900 to 1,500 casualties a day in 2025.

The Russian government says its forces operate with “utmost restraint” and that any alleged crimes are investigated.

The men describe daily “meat storm” assaults — waves of soldiers sent forward to exhaust Ukrainian ammunition. “We had 200 dead in three days,” Dima says. “Our regiment was destroyed.”

Those who refused, they allege, faced torture. Ilya says he was tied to a tree, beaten and humiliated. Dima claims he was electrocuted for 72 days in a makeshift prison after refusing to send men into an assault.

All four are now outside Russia. But the scars remain.

“I have dreams,” Dima says. “Forest full of dead bodies.”

Ilya insists he still loves his country — “but not what Putin has done to it.”

What happens next remains unclear. Moscow does not publish official casualty figures. Public dissent has largely been crushed.

But these accounts — detailed, graphic and on the record — lay bare allegations of a breakdown in discipline and humanity inside Russia’s war machine.

Key Takeaways

• Russian soldiers allege commanders executed troops for refusing orders.

• Claims of torture, humiliation and deadly “meat storm” assaults emerge.

• Moscow denies wrongdoing as casualty estimates soar into the millions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz7gw3l395ro

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...propaganda being reposted...nothing to see here......

Reposted? The video is 2026. I can't imagine why there isn't more fragging of officers. It's obvious they have no accountability.

Ɓack to 1918 then ....for Russia.

Last time it was Trotsky and his machine guns

trained on deserters.

Almost the opposite of what happened in Vietnam when the American soldiers killed their supposed superiors. I'm amazed the Russians aren't dong the same. They're going to get killed anyway so why not?