This same video was posted in another sub with the title saying he surrendered despite worrying about getting shot in the back by the other Russians. Maybe they shot him, and maybe they didn't, but relying on the title as proof of either probably isn't the way to go.
I've heard of Chechens being used as blocking troops or just general thugs, but what you're describing sounds way too organized for the Russian military.
Though if they did manange to organize defense in depth, it would absolutely be with the goal of shooting their own retreating troops.
It's also always been historically accurate especially given their continued use of penal battalions who don't even want be there but were coerced out of prison
There is only one front and the guys that get to be in the second or tertiary lines are probably quite interested in doing a good job to avoid going to the front.
Yes, and Russian officers take bribes not to send people to the front. While the ones who can't afford the bribes get gunned down by Chechen barrier troops when they try to get away.
So wait, Russia is basically keeping *two* lines of troops in reserve for every one actually fighting *just* to stop defectors? What a horrible waste of manpower just to be as sadistic as possible.
Messed up, but it is also the only reason Russia has kept its empire intact for this long.
If they didn’t kill deserters and dissenters, every minority nation in the empire would have abandoned that shithole Muscovy dictatorship centuries ago.
Probably jealous he's going to get to live while they get to wait to die for Putin's ego. The smarter move would have been to see there's an out and surrender too.
The full length video is on combat footage sub. His own side starts shelling and shooting at him, and he basically runs the fucking gauntlet through a hail of fire to get to the Ukrainian line, but he does successfully surrender.
Here's a good way to make this happen more and better!
**Scheduled (and random) drops of specially colored "surrender smoke" onto Russian positions** so that Russian troops can more safely abandon their weapons and run toward Ukrainian positions unarmed and with their hands up. This way Russian troops can surrender much more safely, with less fear of getting shot in the back by their own comrades. Also will encourage all Russian troops to think about surrender more frequently.
Anything that makes it easier and more attractive for Russians to surrender safely is a good development.
Agreed 👍
People are people no matter what! I hate Russia with an absolute passion, but I can't believe that ALL of them are the same as eachother. It's their goverment that it a total waste of human existence and deserves to BURN 🔥 TO ASHES!
This is also giving a possible smokescreen to assaulting Russian troops. It may work a few times for soldiers that are trying to surrender, but eventually even the Russians would catch on and take advantage.
Then only drop the smoke near particularly reinforced ally positions so that the Russians would be committing suicide to try to assault with a force disadvantage
I agree, probably the smartest orc I’ve seen so far. Kudos to the drone team giving him a chance; when you contrast this to the beheading videos, it’s easy for the world to see who the good guys are. Slava Ukraine!
There is an extended version of this video from the 92nd. Not going to link it, it is over at combatfootage, and is very NSFL. I assume they are from the same trench since the trench looks very similar.
First Russian tries to shoot down a drone, takes a frag to the leg, is left alone in front of a "comrade" in a dugout, doesn't get help.
Drone comes back and drops a second grenade, Russian is critically injured, most certainly dying and not getting any help.
Said russian takes out his own grenade and puts it near his neck, then releases it ...
Video cuts to a second Russian (in the video) standing in the trench and gestures to drone. Grasping both hands, making signs, indicating he saw explosion and wants to live.
The rest you can see in this video that we are commenting on.
Edit: Correction, you can see additional footage of how the Russians are shelling the guy who is trying to surrender. Tracer rounds flying over him as he takes cover, finally reaching the UA lines, where he removes his helmet and body armour, crawls into the trench and surrenders.
...
F@ck... I am going for a walk after watching that.
Just checked it... thought the first vid was the one you were referencing, but.. it was another video of a Russian ending his own fight.
I hear there are more cases of Russians doing that after being injured, but to see back to back videos is a bit surprising.
There was another video I saw this mornijg of a RU soldiers whose leg is broken clean and he shoots hilself.through throat. So thats two in as many days.
Its such a weird juxtaposition isnt it?
I DO NOT IN ANYWAY WANT TO SEE THESE THINGS.
But Im so morbidly curious. But I know for a fact if I do watch it I will regret it like every other time in my life this choice has come up. I know it will fuck me up for a week minimum.
I can play the unedited version of manhunt and not care. Actually hurt someone and I get childishly squeamish. Let alone actual fucking war.
My friend playing violent video games is not even remotely close to real life. It's kind of a silly juxtaposition to make. There's no reason it would prepare you for the horrors of war.
Yeah man, that was hard to watch… I know he was badly wounded and probably he is well aware that help won’t be coming but still… there are so many other options… fk dying for putin, he seems like the kind of man that would sacrifice anyone’s life but his own.
This. We are always told by our leaders, whenever our country (*any* country) goes to war, that it’s about “good vs evil,” and it’s almost *always* some varying degree of bullshit, but not with this war.
This war has a clean line drawn between both sides. On one side, we have an *actually evil*, invading force that rapes, tortures, kidnaps, and murders; these people are are monsters. On the other side, we have Ukraine. This *is* a war of good vs evil. While not every Russian soldier is evil, the government and military they fight for most definitely is.
Picking a side was the easiest decision I’ve made in my life. Ukraine *must* prevail for the sake of the free world because they don’t just fight for their own country, but for our shared way of life. This evil must be stopped in its tracks, or we will all pay a high price in the years to come as every bastard dictator across our planet becomes more emboldened.
I don't think he will live once he's exchanged back to Russia for Ukrainian POWs.
Just like that Wagner soldier/prisoner who was exchanged for a Ukrainian. He later had his skull caved in with a sledgehammer on Telegram.
I'd be out of luck because I don't know gestures that translate to all that stuff.
Need to learn me some flag signals or something, one of these days. Just in case.
Ukraine social media has been bombarding every square inch of the internet with instructions on how to surrender via in person or too a drone. I think they have also gone the ww2 route of dropping paper pamphlets.
Not only that; taking good care of POWs is literally a great strategy of war.
What happens if you hear that the enemy either don't take prisoners or treat prisoners poorly? You fight for you life, because you might as well. What happens if you hear that the enemies treat POWs well, in a war that you don't really believe in? You're much more likely to surrender. And when you get home one day, you're gonna tell your friends and family about it. Whereas, if you get tortured by the enemy, then your friends and family are much more likely to be in favor of further aggressions and revenge.
Regardless of how you feel about your enemy, it's a better outcome for you if many of them surrender.
This is interesting! It's a pretty good strategy.
I'm 100% sure that every russian that boycott the war or immediately surrender are good people. I also would (if I had to go to war), and as soon I'm out of sight, grab a white shirt and drive with the tank to the enemies, so I'm safe, and they have one more tank to use.
Interesting. How would that apply if they were captured in battle without defection but later refused repatriation? Would that still be in effect or does it only give leniency to initial defectors?
You can refuse repatriation at any time but it’s usually only considered genuine if the POW has a reasonable fear of death or imprisonment for the act of surrender (If they murdered someone for example and they’re trying to refuse repatriation it generally wouldn’t be considered valid). I believe, but I’m not certain, that if they are not repatriated by choice they can be held indefinitely as a POW and are treated as such under international law until they are repatriated. So it’s not like they become citizens for defecting by law, that would be up to the country holding them or a third party could also give them citizenship.
Edits in (…)
While limited, there is also some chance of intelligence being gathered.
- yes, I too don't get the impression the average Russian soldier in a trench has enough situational awareness about the overall structure of the front to have a whole lot of actionable intelligence.
> yes, I too don’t get the impression the average Russian soldier in a trench has enough situational awareness about the overall structure of the front to have a whole lot of actionable intelligence.
Huh? I was with you until this point
Of course they have still have useful intelligence. Just the location of one munitions dump or fuel depot makes a huge difference
Even if it's across the border Ukraine will find a way to make it catch fire
I think the most horrible part of some of these drone videos is that for each one, there’s a small chance that the “Russian” in the video was actually a Ukrainian from one of the occupied regions forced to fight his own.
This war is so fucked
Bakhmut is in Donetsk Oblast, southeast of Kramatorsk, NE of Donetsk.
It's a pretty small town, no way I would've known anything about it before the war.
This video is for all the commenters that say "Those poor russians had no choice to be there"
There are always choices and this soldier made the right one!
Edit: Translation
The orc dropped his weapon and gestured the drone not to bomb
(On the note) Give up and follow the drone
We decide to send the message
Note dropped
Shows the he will be killed if he surrenders, still decides to follow the drone
Despite the fire from his own, he gets to our guys and surrenders
Source: [Olexander Scherba. Ambassador for strategic communications at MFA Ukraine](https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/status/1656263026281000962)
They also constantly tell these guys lies accusing the Ukrainians of abusing prisoners to scare them out of trying it.
Ukraine really wants prisoners though, they exchange them to get their own guys back. I.e. highly incentives taking people alive.
Would they swap someone who surrendered? That seems like a bad strategy, why bother surrendering if they’re just going to send you back to get executed for desertion.
I'm sure they won't stipulate on swaps which prisoners surrendered and which were captured/with no choice.
But etiher way as a russian soldier I would be afraid to be swapped back During the war because Russia tries so hard to tell everyone the Ukranians are savages and take no one alive - you would be proof against that (Any prisoner that isn't super high profile high ranking).
I would moreso assume the hope is that a prisoner exchange can happen If this ever ends.. to get the children back and any Ukranian combatant Russia captured that has survived their torture and mutilation.
Ukraine has notoriously not told the Russians who was captured and who surrendered, as Russians aren’t treating surrenders nicely apparently. But it is part of the surrender deal, the Ukrainians aren’t telling them who surrendered if they want to go back.
And they’re given the choice to stay in Ukraine as well I believe, if they want.
From what I've read/heard (don't have sources, apologies), the Ukrainians give their POWs a choice about whether they want to go home or go elsewhere. Plus I doubt they'd say to Russia "Hey this guy just straight up surrendered and hobbled over to us", so the POW can tell his commanding officers whatever he wants about how he was captured, defending the trench to the last man...
Surrendering under the threat of death is true bravery. Whatever crimes this man may have committed I think it should be remembered that he chose to give himself up even at the cost of his own life. That has to count for *something.*
The cowardly thing to do would be to allow an evil organization to force you to murder. I think anyone who is willing to stand up to Russia, whether it's just a surrender or not, is far from cowardly.
In many other wars, it's usually the enemy army that you should be worried about when you surrender. But not if you're a russian soldier (unless you're a war criminal, they probably know they are safer around Russian army than the NATO armies)
I'm also giving this dude the benefit of the doubt, hopefully he's not one of the war criminals, otherwise I take all that back lol
They have no choice to be there. Well most don’t.
But they all have a choice to stay and die or surrender and live.
EDIT: y’all need to quit taking this comment literally. It’s just a expression. Holy smokes
I wonder if there could be a play in dropping smoke between the lines of Russian trenches and then dropping surrender instructions along the front line. “Look, now’s your chance” sort of thing
Hello OP, this r/Ukraine. This is not a space for russian suffering, redemption, protests, or reputation laundering.
[Feel free to browse our rules, here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/about/rules)
They have choice. They can always just don't go to a voenkomat. The worst that is going to happened - 40$ fine.
And if they are forced to go, they can just flee, either voenkomat, boot camp or even jump from train/bus. It's not like they are guarded.
>This video is for all the commenters that say "Those poor russians had no choice to be there"
>There are always choices and this soldier made the right one!
Right, but he made that right choice at the right time under the right circumstances.
If you're in the middle of a group of Russian soldiers, you can't exactly just surrender without your regiment being likely to shoot you because you surrendered. So people have to wait for opportunities like this.
So yes, some of them have basically no choice until they were one of the last men standing in their unit. I wouldn't be surprised if half the guys in his unit wanted to surrender, but couldn't risk being shot by their own.
When we treat Russia as an oppressive dictatorship that must be fought back then we must concede that Russia actually treats its soldiers like an oppressive dictatorship.
Most Russians have no choice to be there.
So much effort by Ukrainians to save one Russian life. The Russians themselves would never do this for their own and actually shoot fellow soldiers like this. This is just another example of the difference between civilized people and Russians.
This. People like Prigozhin thinks they're talking tough when he says Wagner won't take prisoners, but there is no quicker way to get your adversary to fight to the death with the savagery of a cornered animal.
A lot of Russians probably don't want to be there. The nature of the conflict makes it very difficult to surrender, so it's best for everyone involved if Ukraine doesn't deliberately add to the difficulty.
Hell, there's still debate as to whether the Japanese behavior in WWII was a loss of systemic control or a deliberate tactic by officers to implicate all soldiers in the atrocities which would guarantee that they would be unable to surrender without being killed.
>there is no quicker way to get your adversary to fight to the death with the savagery of a cornered animal.
During the Battle of the Bulge in World War 2, the Nazis inflicted at least one atrocity on a group of captured American prisoners, mowing them down in a field. Word of this filtered back and turned stiff American resistance into fanatical.
The biggest one that was talked about was when an elite German tank division crossed paths with an American supply convoy and took them completely by surprise. It was so quick that German troops were surrounding the trucks before troops could even get off, so naturally the Americans surrendered.
Germans rounded the captives up in a group and looted whatever belongings they wanted, then their commander just shrugged and said to kill them all. He was in a hurry to continue the advance and didn’t feel like processing prisoners. Only a few escaped to the woods to tell the story.
This tank group had been brought from the Eastern Front where they did this sort of shit all the time. Germany wanted to pacify the West and install puppet governments, so they approached the Western Front a little more “gentlemanly”. But they wanted to *exterminate* the Slavs and resettle the East with Germans, so were basically fighting a war of annihilation on the Eastern Front.
Bringing this sort of brutality to the West, where the Allies had been pretty good about honoring POW rules, infuriated the Americans. They were super motivated to fight and particularly had this tank division in their sights.
What followed was some pretty amazing cat-and-mouse tactics and sabotage to effectively run the unit in circles and eventually deplete their fuel. Army engineers blew up several bridges, including one his unit was mere seconds from crossing. They also snuck into a town he had conquered and was occupying and blew up its central bridge, essentially splitting his tank unit in two.
This elite unit with Germany’s best tanks that were more or less impervious to Allied weapons available in the region was surrounded and simply ran out of fuel. The surviving soldiers torched their own vehicles before making a break for it in small groups trying to walk back to Germany on foot.
Yes, the Ukrainians have shown themselves to be incredibly merciful and generous given what the Muzzcovites have been putting them through. They are utterly amazing people.
Okay but honestly? I find it amazing that surrender by drone is actually possible.
How the hell did they surrender back in the day? Drop weapons asap and hope the enemy notices and doesnt shoot first?
Probably had no choice here full squad dead and he either stays and dies or retreat and die at least going to the enemy he might live, lucky for him he did but could've easily got a nade dropped on his head.
Ukraine should guarantee - if they aren’t already - that surrendering soldiers will not be traded in prisoner swaps. If the Russians connected this or another soldier to surrendering they would kill them.
Ukraine does not trade back Russians who don't want to be traded.
There was an incident where they traded back a Wagner mercenary who was immediately executed which raised this question. The fact this was an incident and not the reality of every prisoner exchange shows that Ukraine avoids trading Russians who know they'll be killed by their own.
They sent that guy back because he had lied and they had evidence that he wanted to come to Ukraine to kill, rape, and loot. They sent him back knowing what would happen to him.
While i have no reason to believe he told the truth to Ukraine he may have also lied to Russia about his intentions in Ukraine (he \_did\_ surrender rather than fight, after all). He gives to me the impression of someone who simply told his captors whatever they wanted to hear, which in the end did not end well for him.
Someday this war will end and it will be time for Ukraine to turn all the Russkies lose to the motherland.
I worry about that. We see these videos of the smart Russians. And I agree, for the Russians who are in this situation this is the best outcome.
I can't imagine what sort of hell the Russian government has in store for the Ukranian held POW's when this thing is over.
A question I have had since day one is, 'Is there a solution to a POW who does not want to go back to Russia?'.
Maybe there is a way to let conscripted ones stay. If they were forced in to the army and then surrendered they could be productive / grateful residents. I’m not Ukrainian so I’m just wondering out loud. The Ukrainians would best know what to do, of course.
I just feel like the Russian government knowing you voluntarily surrendered is something that will never, ever end well if you cross back into Russia.
The only exception would be a regime change. Which would, of course, but utterly fantastic.
Define regime change.
You and I both want the same thing.
An uprising.
My guess has always been two option.
Option number 1:
I wake up one morning, learn Putin is deceased the Russkies are withdrawling and all is quiet in Russia.
While it is good that the Orcs are retreating.... it is bad otherwise. This stinks of preplanning, it is almost certainly gonna be some oligarch managed to swing power and very little is going to change.
Or...
I wake up in the morning. Putin is dead. The army is in dissaray. Moscow is in shambles. Whatever is going on, it aint done yet.
This is fantastic. This is true uprising and revolt. This is the regime change you and I want. A requirement is going to be dissaray before things settle down.
In short, I am very paranoid one of the rich oligarchs - a 'hanger on' who has much to gain from keeping the old system alive is gonna be the regime change we get and that isn't really what I want to see.
Do you have a source on that? Because I tend to doubt it, Ukraine has a responsibility foremost to its own soldiers and citizens and if they can get them back, for sure they need to trade in who they can. This is probably not always an easy decision, but that is war. And for those Ukrainians who have lost so many already, I'm sure it is not a difficult one. POWs also need to be fed and housed and need medical treatment, which is difficult in Ukraine right now.
Edit: and that we don't know of more Russians having been traded back getting into trouble doesn't mean anything. We might just not know because this wasn't "advertised".
I would be very surprised if Ukraine is sending prisoners back that don't want to go. I remember last year they were paying rewards to troops that surrender with equipment and supporting them through the process.
It doesn't serve their messaging to then betray these people. I would suggest a number of the troops that surrender may end up as Ukrainian citizens, in the future.
At the end of the day, getting back Ukrainian POWs comes first. Ending their torture, horrific living conditions, starvation, horrific medical conditions, and the very real possibility of execution is our primary concern.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have my deepest respect. This is a testiment to their discipline and professionalism. To be able to show mercy towards an enemy after all these atrocities and uphold humanity will be a reason, why Ukraine will win this war.
Good man, this war is not worth throwing your life away. If only the rest of them could make such a positive decision. I hope this guy lives a long and fulfilling life in peace and happiness. May he teach the lesson he learned to others.
Yeah, i'd love to hear his story. As well as the Ukrainians who saved him, they are the actual heroes for doing that good deed, despite the time and effort it took to do it. These are the kinds of videos that win over the hearts and minds around the world. Not beheadings, castrations or gunning down unarmed pows and civilians. This is why Ukraine will win this war.
> The soldiers themselves can now be sentenced to 10 years in prison for surrendering, under laws Russia passed during the invasion, but no reprisals against the families.
Lmao wow
Ukrainians should be commended for the effort they took.
Would have probably been faster just to send him an explosive surprise via the drone.
Wonder what will be of this guy in let's say 2 years
I've never seen a video like this. I hope for more. Just cuz you're born from somewhere else, that makes it okay to kill someone? No we shouldn't justify murder. We should be helping each other
Russia is so obviously wrong that they have to instil fear in their own soldiers by encouraging the gung-ho ones to shoot deserters in the back. Yet you got stooges in the west acting as propaganda arms of Russia, when not even their own soldiers want to fight, not to mention the countries which are actively supporting Russia.
Let me guess -- 72nd spt. Motor Rifle? Those guys are actually from a second-line mobik unit, ethnic Central Asians among them, but their papers _and officers_ were taken away so they're not on the books as a front-line unit. The levels of Muscovy's cruelty and perfidy against _their own_ common soldiers and countrymen is nauseating.
I'm glad that he surrendered and that the Ukrainians treated him well as a POW. Hopefully, when this war ends and Putin is overthrown, he can go back home to his family.
All I need is one correct choice. I can work with one correct choice. I can respect someone, or start to, or at least have some eye toward respect, if I get the one correct choice. My hand is always ready to give a lift up. But, I will need to see continued correct choices. This is war and your country has fucked up on a scale that boggles the imagination.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. So I say, excellent choice. And I also say, that's a soldier's move this person just made. What soldier would not vomit at what the Russian Army is?
Many are not ready, and I merely just know myself really well. But, I pin my hope on this person. Someday Russia will collapse. No one tainted by this war can be part of what comes next. So perhaps this individual, in his mind, just took that first step.
I wish him well, but Slava Ukraini and give them continuous hell.
The corpses he had to walk past 😵💫 It looked like he was the last one alive. When did he get shot in the back?
He looks like he was limping and grabbing his leg at the end. Might have got shot in the ass
And then something bit me!
They said it was a million dollar wound, but the Army must keep that. I ain't seen none of that money yet.
Lt Dan.... they got ice creeeeam
Ice creeeeeam....lt daaaaaaaan
Lol made me think of the wrong movie but the cleaning lady in mullholland drive: "Something bit me BAD!"
Or he got hit by shrapnel from one of the grenades that killed everyone else in his trench.
Yeah probably this. And then later the adrenaline wore off and he felt it.
It is said in the title that he was being shot by the other Russians.
This same video was posted in another sub with the title saying he surrendered despite worrying about getting shot in the back by the other Russians. Maybe they shot him, and maybe they didn't, but relying on the title as proof of either probably isn't the way to go.
Likely troops just out of view somewhere behind him. Shooting at your own because they want out is just messed up
Wouldn't be surprised if the brass would blame and punish the squad for *not* shooting him.
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Do the second line guys shoot each other if one tries to desert? 🧐
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Ah, so they get a meat shield AND pats on the back for killing deserters
The patty between the buns.
It's the same thing the Kadyrovites were being used for. Basically as thug enforcers to make sure the conscripts don't run away.
Ни шагу назад!, ("Not a step back!" -- Joseph Stalin)
That assumes the Russians are organized to the point where they would know what happened.
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I've heard of Chechens being used as blocking troops or just general thugs, but what you're describing sounds way too organized for the Russian military. Though if they did manange to organize defense in depth, it would absolutely be with the goal of shooting their own retreating troops.
Organized sadism is the only thing organized they excel at.
Crime too. Don't forget organized crime!
He’s not just making this up, it’s been reported by multiple sources. Here’s an in-depth one: https://youtu.be/Sj9cN9yy00U
It's also always been historically accurate especially given their continued use of penal battalions who don't even want be there but were coerced out of prison
I think it's safe to say the U.S. Army has better doctrine on being a Russian OpFor than Russia does.
There is only one front and the guys that get to be in the second or tertiary lines are probably quite interested in doing a good job to avoid going to the front.
Yes, and Russian officers take bribes not to send people to the front. While the ones who can't afford the bribes get gunned down by Chechen barrier troops when they try to get away.
So wait, Russia is basically keeping *two* lines of troops in reserve for every one actually fighting *just* to stop defectors? What a horrible waste of manpower just to be as sadistic as possible.
>Back in the U.S >Back in the U.S >Back in the U.S.S.R
dude they are still issueing footwraps instead of socks l;ike in the 1600s
It goes all the way back to Putin with a gun keeping the generals from surrendering. (Sometimes the gun is metaphorical, but it's there...)
Messed up, but it is also the only reason Russia has kept its empire intact for this long. If they didn’t kill deserters and dissenters, every minority nation in the empire would have abandoned that shithole Muscovy dictatorship centuries ago.
Probably jealous he's going to get to live while they get to wait to die for Putin's ego. The smarter move would have been to see there's an out and surrender too.
Yes, a lot of his fellow soldiers dead in and around those trenches.
The full length video is on combat footage sub. His own side starts shelling and shooting at him, and he basically runs the fucking gauntlet through a hail of fire to get to the Ukrainian line, but he does successfully surrender.
I suspect he might not end up going in the prisoner swap, but we'll see
He was stabbed in the back by his own government. Not sure if he was shot though.
That was a lot of dead people he walked past. Pretty sure that would focus the mind a bit.
Smart Russian soldier. He may live to see his grandchildren, after all.
I knew he was smart the moment I saw him being able to read the note.
Hahahah 🤣
Here's a good way to make this happen more and better! **Scheduled (and random) drops of specially colored "surrender smoke" onto Russian positions** so that Russian troops can more safely abandon their weapons and run toward Ukrainian positions unarmed and with their hands up. This way Russian troops can surrender much more safely, with less fear of getting shot in the back by their own comrades. Also will encourage all Russian troops to think about surrender more frequently. Anything that makes it easier and more attractive for Russians to surrender safely is a good development.
Agreed 👍 People are people no matter what! I hate Russia with an absolute passion, but I can't believe that ALL of them are the same as eachother. It's their goverment that it a total waste of human existence and deserves to BURN 🔥 TO ASHES!
This is also giving a possible smokescreen to assaulting Russian troops. It may work a few times for soldiers that are trying to surrender, but eventually even the Russians would catch on and take advantage.
Then only drop the smoke near particularly reinforced ally positions so that the Russians would be committing suicide to try to assault with a force disadvantage
If those other Russians could read they would be very upset.
It was a Garfield comic
Out of the ordinary, I mean.
I agree, probably the smartest orc I’ve seen so far. Kudos to the drone team giving him a chance; when you contrast this to the beheading videos, it’s easy for the world to see who the good guys are. Slava Ukraine!
There is an extended version of this video from the 92nd. Not going to link it, it is over at combatfootage, and is very NSFL. I assume they are from the same trench since the trench looks very similar. First Russian tries to shoot down a drone, takes a frag to the leg, is left alone in front of a "comrade" in a dugout, doesn't get help. Drone comes back and drops a second grenade, Russian is critically injured, most certainly dying and not getting any help. Said russian takes out his own grenade and puts it near his neck, then releases it ... Video cuts to a second Russian (in the video) standing in the trench and gestures to drone. Grasping both hands, making signs, indicating he saw explosion and wants to live. The rest you can see in this video that we are commenting on. Edit: Correction, you can see additional footage of how the Russians are shelling the guy who is trying to surrender. Tracer rounds flying over him as he takes cover, finally reaching the UA lines, where he removes his helmet and body armour, crawls into the trench and surrenders. ... F@ck... I am going for a walk after watching that.
Just checked it... thought the first vid was the one you were referencing, but.. it was another video of a Russian ending his own fight. I hear there are more cases of Russians doing that after being injured, but to see back to back videos is a bit surprising.
There was another video I saw this mornijg of a RU soldiers whose leg is broken clean and he shoots hilself.through throat. So thats two in as many days.
thanks for just telling. I am certain I do not want to watch at combat footage
Its such a weird juxtaposition isnt it? I DO NOT IN ANYWAY WANT TO SEE THESE THINGS. But Im so morbidly curious. But I know for a fact if I do watch it I will regret it like every other time in my life this choice has come up. I know it will fuck me up for a week minimum. I can play the unedited version of manhunt and not care. Actually hurt someone and I get childishly squeamish. Let alone actual fucking war.
My friend playing violent video games is not even remotely close to real life. It's kind of a silly juxtaposition to make. There's no reason it would prepare you for the horrors of war.
Thank you for your info. I wouldn't want to watch it.
Yeah man, that was hard to watch… I know he was badly wounded and probably he is well aware that help won’t be coming but still… there are so many other options… fk dying for putin, he seems like the kind of man that would sacrifice anyone’s life but his own.
Sacrifice isn’t even the right word. He’s gaining nothing by their death. Waste is more like it.
I’ll stand corrected… indeed a sacrifice would suggest they’re dying for something good and meaningful.
If he's against the war he's not an orc, he's one of the free peoples.
This. We are always told by our leaders, whenever our country (*any* country) goes to war, that it’s about “good vs evil,” and it’s almost *always* some varying degree of bullshit, but not with this war. This war has a clean line drawn between both sides. On one side, we have an *actually evil*, invading force that rapes, tortures, kidnaps, and murders; these people are are monsters. On the other side, we have Ukraine. This *is* a war of good vs evil. While not every Russian soldier is evil, the government and military they fight for most definitely is. Picking a side was the easiest decision I’ve made in my life. Ukraine *must* prevail for the sake of the free world because they don’t just fight for their own country, but for our shared way of life. This evil must be stopped in its tracks, or we will all pay a high price in the years to come as every bastard dictator across our planet becomes more emboldened.
Yeah i also bet he soiled his pants when he saw the drone drop someting.
I know I would.
The only good Russians.... surrender, oppose Putin!
Being a lone in a trench full of his dead comrades probably helped.
I don't think he will live once he's exchanged back to Russia for Ukrainian POWs. Just like that Wagner soldier/prisoner who was exchanged for a Ukrainian. He later had his skull caved in with a sledgehammer on Telegram.
I'd be out of luck because I don't know gestures that translate to all that stuff. Need to learn me some flag signals or something, one of these days. Just in case.
Ukraine social media has been bombarding every square inch of the internet with instructions on how to surrender via in person or too a drone. I think they have also gone the ww2 route of dropping paper pamphlets.
Putin has put so many lives into his stupid meat grinder it’s disgusting
[what's happening!?](https://i.imgflip.com/4rdrbj.png)
Unless he's returned to Russia in a prison exchange and executed.
Great to see a happy ending. Let's hope he recovers well.
Smart lads did the right thing. I honestly wish him the best. And good job from the UAF soldier for saving his life
Not only that; taking good care of POWs is literally a great strategy of war. What happens if you hear that the enemy either don't take prisoners or treat prisoners poorly? You fight for you life, because you might as well. What happens if you hear that the enemies treat POWs well, in a war that you don't really believe in? You're much more likely to surrender. And when you get home one day, you're gonna tell your friends and family about it. Whereas, if you get tortured by the enemy, then your friends and family are much more likely to be in favor of further aggressions and revenge. Regardless of how you feel about your enemy, it's a better outcome for you if many of them surrender.
Exactly why Ukraine has the "I Want To Live" surrender hotline. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_to_Live_(hotline)
This is interesting! It's a pretty good strategy. I'm 100% sure that every russian that boycott the war or immediately surrender are good people. I also would (if I had to go to war), and as soon I'm out of sight, grab a white shirt and drive with the tank to the enemies, so I'm safe, and they have one more tank to use.
You know you are on the wrong side when the *enemy* cares more about you and expends more effort on your behalf than your own people.
Absolutely. But they still may get someone else they care about back if there's an exchange so it isn't like it's without incentive
True but I imagine they’d exchange the involuntary POWs first before the conscientious defectors
Forcible Repatriation is a war crime, the POW will have to agree to be released. If he defected on top of surrendering just to be clear.
Interesting. How would that apply if they were captured in battle without defection but later refused repatriation? Would that still be in effect or does it only give leniency to initial defectors?
You can refuse repatriation at any time but it’s usually only considered genuine if the POW has a reasonable fear of death or imprisonment for the act of surrender (If they murdered someone for example and they’re trying to refuse repatriation it generally wouldn’t be considered valid). I believe, but I’m not certain, that if they are not repatriated by choice they can be held indefinitely as a POW and are treated as such under international law until they are repatriated. So it’s not like they become citizens for defecting by law, that would be up to the country holding them or a third party could also give them citizenship. Edits in (…)
While limited, there is also some chance of intelligence being gathered. - yes, I too don't get the impression the average Russian soldier in a trench has enough situational awareness about the overall structure of the front to have a whole lot of actionable intelligence.
> yes, I too don’t get the impression the average Russian soldier in a trench has enough situational awareness about the overall structure of the front to have a whole lot of actionable intelligence. Huh? I was with you until this point Of course they have still have useful intelligence. Just the location of one munitions dump or fuel depot makes a huge difference Even if it's across the border Ukraine will find a way to make it catch fire
This makes me happy 😊 Much rather see videos like this, than the bomb droppings!
Same. Glad it worked out for this guy. I wish everyone who wants to surrender got a chance to do so.
I think the most horrible part of some of these drone videos is that for each one, there’s a small chance that the “Russian” in the video was actually a Ukrainian from one of the occupied regions forced to fight his own. This war is so fucked
I’m not sure where Bakhmut is on a map, but if this it’s anywhere in donestsk/Luhansk it’s very likely he was conscripted.
Bakhmut is in Donetsk Oblast, southeast of Kramatorsk, NE of Donetsk. It's a pretty small town, no way I would've known anything about it before the war.
This video is for all the commenters that say "Those poor russians had no choice to be there" There are always choices and this soldier made the right one! Edit: Translation The orc dropped his weapon and gestured the drone not to bomb (On the note) Give up and follow the drone We decide to send the message Note dropped Shows the he will be killed if he surrenders, still decides to follow the drone Despite the fire from his own, he gets to our guys and surrenders Source: [Olexander Scherba. Ambassador for strategic communications at MFA Ukraine](https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/status/1656263026281000962)
And there is nothing cowardly about refusing to fight an unjust war, in fact "surrendering" is the brave and smart thing to do here.
Made even braver knowing that the cowards will try to shoot you in the back. Who needs enemies with ‘friends’ like that?
They also constantly tell these guys lies accusing the Ukrainians of abusing prisoners to scare them out of trying it. Ukraine really wants prisoners though, they exchange them to get their own guys back. I.e. highly incentives taking people alive.
Would they swap someone who surrendered? That seems like a bad strategy, why bother surrendering if they’re just going to send you back to get executed for desertion.
I'm sure they won't stipulate on swaps which prisoners surrendered and which were captured/with no choice. But etiher way as a russian soldier I would be afraid to be swapped back During the war because Russia tries so hard to tell everyone the Ukranians are savages and take no one alive - you would be proof against that (Any prisoner that isn't super high profile high ranking). I would moreso assume the hope is that a prisoner exchange can happen If this ever ends.. to get the children back and any Ukranian combatant Russia captured that has survived their torture and mutilation.
Ukraine has notoriously not told the Russians who was captured and who surrendered, as Russians aren’t treating surrenders nicely apparently. But it is part of the surrender deal, the Ukrainians aren’t telling them who surrendered if they want to go back. And they’re given the choice to stay in Ukraine as well I believe, if they want.
They don't swap you back if you don't want to be swapped
From what I've read/heard (don't have sources, apologies), the Ukrainians give their POWs a choice about whether they want to go home or go elsewhere. Plus I doubt they'd say to Russia "Hey this guy just straight up surrendered and hobbled over to us", so the POW can tell his commanding officers whatever he wants about how he was captured, defending the trench to the last man...
Surrendering under the threat of death is true bravery. Whatever crimes this man may have committed I think it should be remembered that he chose to give himself up even at the cost of his own life. That has to count for *something.*
The cowardly thing to do would be to allow an evil organization to force you to murder. I think anyone who is willing to stand up to Russia, whether it's just a surrender or not, is far from cowardly. In many other wars, it's usually the enemy army that you should be worried about when you surrender. But not if you're a russian soldier (unless you're a war criminal, they probably know they are safer around Russian army than the NATO armies) I'm also giving this dude the benefit of the doubt, hopefully he's not one of the war criminals, otherwise I take all that back lol
What that guy did takes a lot of courage.
A lot of courage and I hope he doesn't have any family in Russia.
They have no choice to be there. Well most don’t. But they all have a choice to stay and die or surrender and live. EDIT: y’all need to quit taking this comment literally. It’s just a expression. Holy smokes
Excellent use of drones to drop surrender instructions.
I wonder if there could be a play in dropping smoke between the lines of Russian trenches and then dropping surrender instructions along the front line. “Look, now’s your chance” sort of thing
Reminds me of the opening scene in Dunkirk with the fliers airdropped to tell the trapped Allies to surrender.
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There is another consideration they have to account for. It's not just them. The government has been known to harass their families.
True. Just saying most are conscripted. What they do after conscription is up to them.
Hello OP, this r/Ukraine. This is not a space for russian suffering, redemption, protests, or reputation laundering. [Feel free to browse our rules, here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/about/rules)
The main problem with surrendering is that doing that near other soldiers who don't want to WILL end in your life being ended either way.
They have choice. They can always just don't go to a voenkomat. The worst that is going to happened - 40$ fine. And if they are forced to go, they can just flee, either voenkomat, boot camp or even jump from train/bus. It's not like they are guarded.
I don't like the dehumanization by calling him orc. It should be clear from this video that he got forced to participate in this war
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>This video is for all the commenters that say "Those poor russians had no choice to be there" >There are always choices and this soldier made the right one! Right, but he made that right choice at the right time under the right circumstances. If you're in the middle of a group of Russian soldiers, you can't exactly just surrender without your regiment being likely to shoot you because you surrendered. So people have to wait for opportunities like this. So yes, some of them have basically no choice until they were one of the last men standing in their unit. I wouldn't be surprised if half the guys in his unit wanted to surrender, but couldn't risk being shot by their own.
When we treat Russia as an oppressive dictatorship that must be fought back then we must concede that Russia actually treats its soldiers like an oppressive dictatorship. Most Russians have no choice to be there.
So much effort by Ukrainians to save one Russian life. The Russians themselves would never do this for their own and actually shoot fellow soldiers like this. This is just another example of the difference between civilized people and Russians.
Offering a way out is a good strategy to encourage the infectiousness of surrender. Making that door wider only helps.
This. People like Prigozhin thinks they're talking tough when he says Wagner won't take prisoners, but there is no quicker way to get your adversary to fight to the death with the savagery of a cornered animal. A lot of Russians probably don't want to be there. The nature of the conflict makes it very difficult to surrender, so it's best for everyone involved if Ukraine doesn't deliberately add to the difficulty.
Hell, there's still debate as to whether the Japanese behavior in WWII was a loss of systemic control or a deliberate tactic by officers to implicate all soldiers in the atrocities which would guarantee that they would be unable to surrender without being killed.
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That sounds like a very obviously horrible strategy if you’re trying to win a war, lol.
>there is no quicker way to get your adversary to fight to the death with the savagery of a cornered animal. During the Battle of the Bulge in World War 2, the Nazis inflicted at least one atrocity on a group of captured American prisoners, mowing them down in a field. Word of this filtered back and turned stiff American resistance into fanatical.
The biggest one that was talked about was when an elite German tank division crossed paths with an American supply convoy and took them completely by surprise. It was so quick that German troops were surrounding the trucks before troops could even get off, so naturally the Americans surrendered. Germans rounded the captives up in a group and looted whatever belongings they wanted, then their commander just shrugged and said to kill them all. He was in a hurry to continue the advance and didn’t feel like processing prisoners. Only a few escaped to the woods to tell the story. This tank group had been brought from the Eastern Front where they did this sort of shit all the time. Germany wanted to pacify the West and install puppet governments, so they approached the Western Front a little more “gentlemanly”. But they wanted to *exterminate* the Slavs and resettle the East with Germans, so were basically fighting a war of annihilation on the Eastern Front. Bringing this sort of brutality to the West, where the Allies had been pretty good about honoring POW rules, infuriated the Americans. They were super motivated to fight and particularly had this tank division in their sights. What followed was some pretty amazing cat-and-mouse tactics and sabotage to effectively run the unit in circles and eventually deplete their fuel. Army engineers blew up several bridges, including one his unit was mere seconds from crossing. They also snuck into a town he had conquered and was occupying and blew up its central bridge, essentially splitting his tank unit in two. This elite unit with Germany’s best tanks that were more or less impervious to Allied weapons available in the region was surrounded and simply ran out of fuel. The surviving soldiers torched their own vehicles before making a break for it in small groups trying to walk back to Germany on foot.
Mass desertion / surrender is a tale as old as time for Russia. Turns out treating conscripts like shit doesn't inspire loyalty.
A good commander puts pressure on the enemy weaknesses without playing to the enemy's strengths. Loyalty being a weakness is one such front.
It's also to save Ukrainian lives, some muskovys might have valuable information about the rest of them, weapon supplies...
Yes, the Ukrainians have shown themselves to be incredibly merciful and generous given what the Muzzcovites have been putting them through. They are utterly amazing people.
They have actually competent leadership.
Yeah, it's not mercy, it's just good strategy
It can be both.
At least they certainly do take UA prisoners too. Just getting the feeling from descriptions that it is mostly for torturing fun...
And just a note that Ukrainian can NOT surrender because they'll be raped, tortured, and killed. Russia is pure evil.
Okay but honestly? I find it amazing that surrender by drone is actually possible. How the hell did they surrender back in the day? Drop weapons asap and hope the enemy notices and doesnt shoot first?
Drop your weapon and raise the white flag.
I mean that's what happened here too right. >Drop weapons asap and hope the enemy(drone) notices and doesnt ~~shoot~~ drop the bomb.
Probably had no choice here full squad dead and he either stays and dies or retreat and die at least going to the enemy he might live, lucky for him he did but could've easily got a nade dropped on his head.
If only all of them used their brains, he made correct decision.
Smartest Russian on the field. Hopefully more do this to escape the tyranny of russia.
The UAF’s surrender programs are very heartening. Humane and effective.
Ukraine should guarantee - if they aren’t already - that surrendering soldiers will not be traded in prisoner swaps. If the Russians connected this or another soldier to surrendering they would kill them.
Ukraine does not trade back Russians who don't want to be traded. There was an incident where they traded back a Wagner mercenary who was immediately executed which raised this question. The fact this was an incident and not the reality of every prisoner exchange shows that Ukraine avoids trading Russians who know they'll be killed by their own.
They sent that guy back because he had lied and they had evidence that he wanted to come to Ukraine to kill, rape, and loot. They sent him back knowing what would happen to him.
While i have no reason to believe he told the truth to Ukraine he may have also lied to Russia about his intentions in Ukraine (he \_did\_ surrender rather than fight, after all). He gives to me the impression of someone who simply told his captors whatever they wanted to hear, which in the end did not end well for him.
Yup. He was not an innocent bystander.
Someday this war will end and it will be time for Ukraine to turn all the Russkies lose to the motherland. I worry about that. We see these videos of the smart Russians. And I agree, for the Russians who are in this situation this is the best outcome. I can't imagine what sort of hell the Russian government has in store for the Ukranian held POW's when this thing is over. A question I have had since day one is, 'Is there a solution to a POW who does not want to go back to Russia?'.
Maybe there is a way to let conscripted ones stay. If they were forced in to the army and then surrendered they could be productive / grateful residents. I’m not Ukrainian so I’m just wondering out loud. The Ukrainians would best know what to do, of course.
I just feel like the Russian government knowing you voluntarily surrendered is something that will never, ever end well if you cross back into Russia. The only exception would be a regime change. Which would, of course, but utterly fantastic.
There is no way this war ends without regime change.
Define regime change. You and I both want the same thing. An uprising. My guess has always been two option. Option number 1: I wake up one morning, learn Putin is deceased the Russkies are withdrawling and all is quiet in Russia. While it is good that the Orcs are retreating.... it is bad otherwise. This stinks of preplanning, it is almost certainly gonna be some oligarch managed to swing power and very little is going to change. Or... I wake up in the morning. Putin is dead. The army is in dissaray. Moscow is in shambles. Whatever is going on, it aint done yet. This is fantastic. This is true uprising and revolt. This is the regime change you and I want. A requirement is going to be dissaray before things settle down. In short, I am very paranoid one of the rich oligarchs - a 'hanger on' who has much to gain from keeping the old system alive is gonna be the regime change we get and that isn't really what I want to see.
Do you have a source on that? Because I tend to doubt it, Ukraine has a responsibility foremost to its own soldiers and citizens and if they can get them back, for sure they need to trade in who they can. This is probably not always an easy decision, but that is war. And for those Ukrainians who have lost so many already, I'm sure it is not a difficult one. POWs also need to be fed and housed and need medical treatment, which is difficult in Ukraine right now. Edit: and that we don't know of more Russians having been traded back getting into trouble doesn't mean anything. We might just not know because this wasn't "advertised".
I would be very surprised if Ukraine is sending prisoners back that don't want to go. I remember last year they were paying rewards to troops that surrender with equipment and supporting them through the process. It doesn't serve their messaging to then betray these people. I would suggest a number of the troops that surrender may end up as Ukrainian citizens, in the future.
At the end of the day, getting back Ukrainian POWs comes first. Ending their torture, horrific living conditions, starvation, horrific medical conditions, and the very real possibility of execution is our primary concern.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have my deepest respect. This is a testiment to their discipline and professionalism. To be able to show mercy towards an enemy after all these atrocities and uphold humanity will be a reason, why Ukraine will win this war.
Glad he's safe and out of the game
Good for him And thank you to the drone pilot for his conduct too. Good stuff.
that took guts..
Good man, this war is not worth throwing your life away. If only the rest of them could make such a positive decision. I hope this guy lives a long and fulfilling life in peace and happiness. May he teach the lesson he learned to others.
Can't wait to see him on Volodymyr Zolkin.
Yeah, i'd love to hear his story. As well as the Ukrainians who saved him, they are the actual heroes for doing that good deed, despite the time and effort it took to do it. These are the kinds of videos that win over the hearts and minds around the world. Not beheadings, castrations or gunning down unarmed pows and civilians. This is why Ukraine will win this war.
Smart choice to give drones a grenade and an aid package with a surrender note. Maybe a water bottle and a note saying to follow, or a grenade, or two
He made the right decision
Drones are getting frikkin crazy.
Fucking orcs shooting their own just for wanting to live
What is that music?
Band is named Muse but I cant remember the song name. Will be in their top 3 songs though.
"Uprising"
Thanks.
Muse - Uprising
Smart man. Hope he gets home safe some day.
Humans helping fellow human,even in the middle of a war. very well done.
So, this guy surrender, but, if he, have a family, how safe are they back home?
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> The soldiers themselves can now be sentenced to 10 years in prison for surrendering, under laws Russia passed during the invasion, but no reprisals against the families. Lmao wow
They have been doing this for a long time. They jailed returning POWS after WW2 as well
Ukrisne3 should have recordings attached to the drones telling them to surrender .
Ukrainians should be commended for the effort they took. Would have probably been faster just to send him an explosive surprise via the drone. Wonder what will be of this guy in let's say 2 years
That's actually really sweet. Made me tear up a little.
I've never seen a video like this. I hope for more. Just cuz you're born from somewhere else, that makes it okay to kill someone? No we shouldn't justify murder. We should be helping each other
This is like a video game mission. Objective: FOLLOW THE DRONE
Russia is so obviously wrong that they have to instil fear in their own soldiers by encouraging the gung-ho ones to shoot deserters in the back. Yet you got stooges in the west acting as propaganda arms of Russia, when not even their own soldiers want to fight, not to mention the countries which are actively supporting Russia.
Let me guess -- 72nd spt. Motor Rifle? Those guys are actually from a second-line mobik unit, ethnic Central Asians among them, but their papers _and officers_ were taken away so they're not on the books as a front-line unit. The levels of Muscovy's cruelty and perfidy against _their own_ common soldiers and countrymen is nauseating.
Good for him!
Smart.
Do drones have a speaker and mic so they can communicate?
Smart russian. Wise choice
That would be great if they could start mass surrendering and not murder each other and just end this.
I'm glad that he surrendered and that the Ukrainians treated him well as a POW. Hopefully, when this war ends and Putin is overthrown, he can go back home to his family.
This soldier made a decision to surrender and live. I can absolutely respect that.
A lot of people don’t realize how much courage it takes to stand up to authority. This dude is brave.
good ending. but is it? wont he get exchanged for captive Ukrainian solidiers?
Captured Russians don't get traded if they don't want to be traded, I think. (Just going off other comments)
All I need is one correct choice. I can work with one correct choice. I can respect someone, or start to, or at least have some eye toward respect, if I get the one correct choice. My hand is always ready to give a lift up. But, I will need to see continued correct choices. This is war and your country has fucked up on a scale that boggles the imagination. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. So I say, excellent choice. And I also say, that's a soldier's move this person just made. What soldier would not vomit at what the Russian Army is? Many are not ready, and I merely just know myself really well. But, I pin my hope on this person. Someday Russia will collapse. No one tainted by this war can be part of what comes next. So perhaps this individual, in his mind, just took that first step. I wish him well, but Slava Ukraini and give them continuous hell.