A video spread on social networks has put a face to the desperation of many Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine. In the images, A soldier taken prisoner manages to speak on the phone with his mother and he confesses that he has made an irrevocable decision: he will not return to Russia. “I will not return to a country where they do not treat me like a human being,” He states with a broken voice.
The protagonist is Ruslan Dmitrieva Russian fighter who, from captivity, managed a brief call with his family. The recording was broadcast on X by the Former Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Anton Herashchenkoand has become one of the most direct testimonies about the moral erosion within the Russian troops.
During the conversation, Dmitriev tries to connect with his mother, who initially responds coldly. He insists: He’s worried that she doesn’t seem affected by her capture or the fact that she’s still alive. In the middle of the exchange, the soldier describes how he was sent on suicide missions, “raids to get meat,” and denounces the degrading treatment he received from his superiors.
The woman, bewildered, He asks what he can do for him. He only asks to be heard: he assures that it is the only opportunity he has to communicate with his people. And then he confesses the essential thing: that he will not return to the Russian front or serve the State that sent him there.
“I will no longer fight for Russia,” he repeats. He also does not consider fighting for Ukraine, but he does make it clear that, if he has the opportunity, he will seek refuge elsewhere, perhaps in Kazakhstan. Returning to Russia, he explains, would mean only one thing: being sent back into combat.
Dmitriev He also recounts how his unit was practically annihilated: Of six members, only three survived. And he contrasts this panorama with the treatment received in captivity, where – according to what he says – they offered him food, water and no mistreatment. “Do you see the difference, Mom?” he asks. His mother, who initially called his words crazy, begins to nod.
Even sothe woman reminds him that leaving the army would be considered desertion. But he does not hesitate: he insists that his decision has been made. For Dmitriev, returning would mean repeating the same cycle of violence and dehumanization from which, he claims, he has only been able to escape as a prisoner.
