The Sunday Times: Cannibalism In The Russian Army Confirmed
- 26.04.2026, 15:43
Data checked against several sources.
The British newspaper The Sunday Times has confirmed a case of cannibalism in the Russian army with the help of an expert and computer programs. This was previously reported by Ukrainian military intelligence, writes "Agency".
The case came to light thanks to a conversation between an officer and Lt. Vladislav Razikov, deputy commander of the 5th Independent Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade. The intercepts were relayed by Ukrainian intelligence.
The military spoke on Telegram in November 2025 near Mirnograd in the Donetsk region. The man spotted cannibalizing is known by his call sign Khramoy, and served in the 95th Regiment of the 5th Brigade.
The unnamed officer describes the "incident".
"In short, one of ours killed two others, and he tried... he cut off a leg and already tried to eat it," the officer says. He then describes how Khramogo was found by two military men who were sent to investigate his absence.
"Eventually, today, they went and found a place where he dragged them into the basement, cut off a leg and was already sitting there putting them through a meat grinder or something like that in an attempt to eat them...He opened fire. They killed him," the officer said.
The officer also sent photos of the leg and the emaciated soldier to Razikov. According to an analysis by The Sunday Times, the photos were not generated or edited by AI.
An independent military surgeon explained to the publication that it is unlikely that the injuries seen in the photos are from military action. "It looks like it was cut with a sharp knife," the surgeon said.
The photo of Khromoy's body shows that he is severely emaciated.
After receiving the photo, Razikov interjected: "Are they not being fed or what? I don't understand." The officer replied that "ours will soon start eating each other" and that "everyone is sitting on starvation rations."
Razikov has been involved in the invasion since at least early 2023, according to leaked databases.
Pro-Kremlin media mentioned him as deputy commander of the 5th Independent Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade named after Alexander Zakharchenko of the 51st All-Russian Army as part of the Center group of troops. In July 2025, he told TASS about Ukrainian scouts in Mykolayivka, and in October of the same year about the capture of the village of Moskovskoye in the DNR.
The Sunday Times tells of three more intercepted communications from the Russian military discussing cannibalism.
In a conversation dated April 3, 2025, a soldier with the call sign Most from the 54th Motorized Rifle Regiment complains to his officer. "If he had been a human being, he could have stayed as long as he wanted, but he ate a corpse, human meat. I'm a Muslim. I don't want someone like him coming into my shelter," the military man says.
In another conversation on Oct. 8, 2025, the commander of the 1437th Motorized Rifle Regiment accuses one of his subordinates. "Why are you fucking eating Khokhls? Stop fucking eating people," The Sunday Times quotes him as saying.
In another Telegram message, Ukrainian hackers found an order to the 55th Motorized Rifle Regiment: "No alcohol! No drugs! No traveling without documents! No cannibalism!".
In December 2025, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate published a recording in which a man is heard saying he is ready to kill "someone young." "I sharpened my knives, I don't care who I cut, I want to eat," the man said.
In the summer, the GUR published a recording of negotiations that a military man with the call sign Breloch killed and ate his partner. "Brelok took him down and then ate the f*ck out of him for two weeks," the man in the recording said.
The Russian embassy in London told the publication it saw "no grounds for comment". A spokesman said: "What you have described are fabrications provided by Ukrainian military intelligence, an organization whose function is to produce propaganda, not to collect facts."