Captured Ukrainian Soldier Discusses Mobilization and Mine Injuries

And the brigade?

Unit commander

Aleksandr, call sign Laryi.

What?

Laryi.

Mariy?

La-rych.

Mariya.

No.

Lariy.

Lariy.

No, Laryi.

Mariya.

Laryi.

Got it. Understood. Go on.

Moving on.

Venom.

Who is Venom?

Company commander.

UT?

Company commander.

Venom is the company commander, right?

Yes.

Do you know his first name, last name, and patronymic?

No, just call signs.

Just call signs.

Brigade commander?

All I know is Zoro.

Zoro, yeah, that's a call sign?

Yeah, that's all.

I see.

Why the fuck did you go fight?

They forced me.

They forced me.

For 15 years.

What city are you from?

Sumy region, the town of Shuska.

Shuska. Do you have a wife, kids?

I have a common-law wife.

And kids?

No kids yet.

So, are you holding up okay?

Well...

So you said you were from Voronezh,

some kind of village.

No, Voronezh is a settlement.

Ah, I see. Okay, okay, okay. Um,

there are a fuckload of you, right?

There were ten of us.

No, are there a fuckton of you in this area altogether?

I don't know.

You don't know?

We were only told there were ten of you.

So, do you have some base area

there where they prepare you?

Near Donetsk Oblast.

Near Donetsk Oblast?

Yeah. Then they drove us in vehicles.

You can show me on a map, right?

I know the town of Terny.

Terny?

Yeah.

Oh, bro,

you half- fags, they kicked

me the fuck out of there once.

Not me.

Well, I know it wasn't you.

Maybe you too, but I know

you kicked me the fuck out of there.

Not me.

Have you been in Krasny Lyman?

No.

No?

How long have you been fighting?

Well,

we were in Terny, well,

we were stationed there for a month.

A month?

Yeah.

Got it. Let's go.

Are you fighting in Russia?

No.

Okay, yeah. Have you been to Kyiv?

No. They mobilized you, right, forced you?

Yeah.

Got it. Do you know any SSO units?

No.

Why are you all banged up? Did they beat you or what?

I stepped on a mine.

A petal mine, probably, right?

Maybe on the petals too, I don't know.

See? Your own guys don't give a fuck about you.

Yeah, they left you there

and went away, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, fuck, what can I say? Why fight for this army?

I didn't...

Look, see, we took you prisoner, right?

Where they don't force you to say:

"Glory to Russia!"

Over there, fucking Zelensky is an asshole, right?

In war, what should you be if you're a warrior?

A human being, right?

Yeah.

There you go.

Why the fuck do your people do such bullshit?

I don't know.

You don't know?

I see.

So, what injuries do you have? Where?

Your leg is injured, right? You stepped on a mine.

Yeah, both legs.

Yeah. All right, just be a little more careful.

No stupid stuff, just no stupid stuff.

No.

If you don't, uh, do stupid things, we'll

get you out of here,

we'll take you to Russia, yeah.

And in Russia, fuck, they don't shoot.

Did they give your icon back?

Yeah.

Didn't they beat you up?

No.

There. And who were you captured by?

By Russian soldiers.

There. Russian soldiers are soldiers,

right, that's correct.

They treat you like a warrior, right?

Yeah.

The craziest thing is, they tied your hand up,

fuck, and gave you some water, fuck.

Even though we don't have any water ourselves.

Thanks for the water.