Russians Taken Captive By The AFU Told Of A "drone Meat Grinder"
- 28.05.2026, 11:15
Many of them did not see Ukrainian soldiers - only UAVs and explosions.
The British newspaper The Telegraph published a report from a camp for Russian prisoners of war in western Ukraine. The journalist spoke to dozens of soldiers, many of whom admitted that they went to the front not because of ideology, but to escape poverty, prison or hopelessness (translated by Charter97.org).
In the camp's dining room there is silence, the heavy smell of damp clothes and identical phrases of gratitude in Ukrainian, which many Russians don't even understand. Most of the captives avoid talking, but some do talk about the front.
19-year-old Andrei admitted that in all the time on the front lines he hardly saw Ukrainian soldiers.
"It was only drones and explosions," he says. After the Ukrainian drone strike, the guy lay wounded in a trench and spent more than two months next to the Ukrainian military. He says one of the fighters treated him harshly, but the others brought him food and cigarettes.
Another captive, 22-year-old Chris, expected a "normal war with machine guns," but instead faced constant drone attacks. He says he would like to leave the army, but doesn't believe he has a choice at all.
Many captives repeat the same idea - decisions are made "at the top" and ordinary soldiers don't decide anything. Azerbaijani Shakma, who fought on the side of Russia, said that the war was the result of the struggle of major powers, not the choice of ordinary people.
The journalist was particularly impressed by former Ukrainian prisoner of war Yevgeny, who survived torture in a Russian prison. After the exchange, he wrote a book about the captivity and admitted that the war had completely changed his attitude to Russians.
"I used to consider myself a humanist. Now - except for Russians," he says.
Today Eugene works as a cab driver in Lviv and tries to live an ordinary life. According to him, in captivity he repeated one phrase every morning: "No expectations."