Russian Troops Say They Are Locked in a Pit After Refusing to Fight

A video posted to social media Monday reportedly shows Russian troops saying they were punished by a commanding officer for refusing to fight on Ukraine's front lines.

"We've been locked in this pit for refusing to go the zero line. [We have] sat here for two days," one of the soldiers in the clip said. "Zero line" is a term that Russians frequently use for a battlefield's front lines.

WarTranslated, an independent media project that translates materials about the war into English, shared the video on Twitter. In the clip, which couldn't be independently verified by Newsweek, another one of the eight soldiers filmed in what appeared to be an underground dwelling in an undisclosed location said they had been serving in the war for nine months without being given leave time.

"Some who have served for less than a year have been on leave twice," the man said. "But here we served for nine months, no leave."

The first soldier said: "We have no commanders to go to the zero line with. No vehicles. No radio comms [communications]. Thrown like dogs into tree lines. With a rifle against a tank.

He continued, "Army of Russia, this is how we fight."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.

Soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, reports began emerging that his troops were suffering from low morale. Such reports only increased during the 500-plus days of fighting, and the clip posted by WarTranslated is just the latest example of Russian troops airing their grievances about the war on videos they posted on social media.

In March, the Ukrainian news outlet Obozrevatel reported that one of Russia's assault "Storm-Z" assault companies addressed Putin directly in a video as they complained that they were not given proper supplies while being put in trenches in Ukraine's Donetsk region.

More recently, WarTranslated shared a video late last month of another Storm-Z company saying they would not return to what they called the "meat grinder" of the front lines.

"Initially, upon arriving to the SMO [special military operation] zone, we had 150 people. After brutal fights, this is all what's left us," a solider in that video said, according to WarTranslated's English captions.

Last week, another video emerged of Russian troops, who said they would no longer fight on behalf of Putin because they were not being paid or given proper supplies.

"We...have to fight for our own money. All we've got left is to buy our own ammo," a soldier in the video said, according to WarTranslated.