Russian Officers Allegedly Conduct Harsh Executions Within Their Ranks

Accounts from Russian soldiers have cast a harsh light on the extreme measures employed by their commanders, shedding light on executions, so-called ‘meat storm’ missions, and severe torture inflicted as punishment for desertion. These revelations depict a grim reality faced by troops on the front lines.

In a BBC documentary titled “The Zero Line: Inside Russia’s War,” several soldiers shared their harrowing experiences, detailing instances where they witnessed fellow soldiers being executed for defying orders. The documentary provides a rare glimpse into the brutal tactics used to maintain discipline within the ranks.

A former soldier, identified as Dima, recounted a particularly chilling scene where he discovered the bodies of about 20 men dumped in a pit, victims of what is referred to in military slang as being ‘zeroed’—a term for executing one’s own troops. This stark account underscores the severity of the actions taken against non-compliant soldiers.

Other soldiers told of even more disturbing treatment, describing how some men were subjected to starvation, electrocution, and humiliation before being sent into battle unarmed in what were referred to as ‘meat storm’ missions. These accounts paint a picture of a relentless and brutal environment where survival often depended on unwavering obedience.

These testimonies emerge in the context of the fourth anniversary of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, a stark reminder of the war’s enduring impact and the extreme conditions faced by soldiers on the front lines.

Over the last four years, Putin’s forces have seen 1.25million of its soldiers killed or injured on the front lines 

And now Western officials say that Russia is losing more troops than it can recruit, with Putin’s forces suffering nearly 40,000 casualties every month while only recruiting up to 35,000 troops.

One former soldier, Ilya, who previously worked as a teacher for children with special needs, was called up to service in May 2024.

Soldiers described being sent into ‘meat storm’ battle missions, which are so deadly they are likened to suicide missions

Footage showing two soldiers being shot after attempting to flee

After his arrival in Ukraine alongside 78 others, most men were directly sent to the frontline, while he ended up at a command post.

During his time there, he said he witnessed four people executed by a commander after they fled the front line.

He said: ‘The saddest thing is that I knew them. I remember one of them screaming ‘Don’t shoot, I’ll do anything!’ but he [the commander] zeroed them anyway.’

‘Your fate depended on your commander. The commander is on the radio: ‘Zero this one, zero that one’.’

34-year-old Dima worked as a paramedic where he was part of a brigade which evacuated wounded soldiers from the front line. 

He described witnessing his commander – Alexei Ksenofontov – executing fellow troops, calling him a ‘butcher.’ 

Of the 20 men in the pit, Dima said they were ex-convicts who had arrived at the base the previous night.

‘Twenty lads were brought to us. They just took their bank cards and killed them,’ he said. 

‘It’s not a problem to write off someone. You just make up a report.’

The men in the documentary spoke in detail about the ‘meat storm’ missions men were forced to partake in, which are so deadly they are likened to suicide missions. 

Two Russian soldiers are seen naked in a pit as punishment for refusing orders

Men who refuse to participate or who flee face horrific torture and abuse from their commanders 

Speaking in the film, former soldier Denis, 27, said: ‘I saw them [commanders] send wave after wave, throwing men like meat at the Ukrainians, so they run out of ammo and drones and another wave can reach their objective.’

He explained that commanders would start out by sending three men, and when that didn’t work they would send up to 50 people.

He said: ‘We had 200 dead in three days. On our regiment’s first meat storm they broke us, our regiment was destroyed in just three days.’ 

Men who refuse to participate or who flee face horrific torture and abuse from their commanders, which is then filmed and put on social media. 

Ilya showed one Telegram video of emaciated men crouching in a dark pit after being starved and beaten for refusing orders.

A man in the video is heard saying: ‘Are you hungry? Let’s feed the animals,’ and ‘Do you want a cookie’ as one soldier begs and pleads before some scraps of food are thrown into the pit.

One Telegram video showed emaciated men crouching in a dark pit after being starved and beaten for refusing orders

One soldier begs and pleads before some scraps of food are thrown into the pit

Ilya said he was personally tortured, recounting how he was tied to a tree, urinated on and beaten, before a gun was put to his head. 

‘The commander told everyone ‘We’ve got a new toilet’. I was tied up for half a day,’ he said.

The former soldier said he attempted to take his own life after the ordeal ended.

Denis said humiliation and torture has ‘become the norm’ in the Russian Army.

‘It’s illegal but no one is punished for it. On the contrary, guys are even encouraged to do it,’ he said.

The 27-year-old showed a photo taken after he was abused by commanders for refusing to search for a missing drone.

Two of his front teeth were knocked out. He said: ‘It’s terrible, I just had to carry on.’

Denis had two front teeth knocked out after being abused by commanders

Humiliation and torture has ‘become the norm’ in the Russian Army

He was eventually promoted, but after refusing to send his men on meat storms he was arrested by military police and tortured. 

Dima said he was tortured for 72 days with electric shocks, which made him defecate himself. 

Speaking about nightmares he has experienced ever since, Dima said:  ‘I have dreams. I see [a] forest full of dead bodies, just smashed people with faces, dirty white mouths full of blood. The smell… it doesn’t smell, it tastes.’

‘I’m a criminal, and nobody cares – my crime is just I don’t want to kill.’

These testimonies come as more and more disturbing footage is being spread online, showing Russian superiors torturing their soldiers.

 In a video last month, one fighter was seen taped upside down to a tree in the biting cold near the frontline.

 Another – also tethered to a tree – was forced to eat snow by his superior officer.

The frightened and shaking men wore only underwear after being stripped of their winter uniforms.

Their commander is heard barking: ‘[They] wanted to **** off from their positions, not follow orders.’

Forcing snow into the mouth of the refusenik, the raging officer says: ‘Eat, you ****ing *****.’

In other videos that have surfaced men are beaten with rifle butts for retreating, denied food and endlessly threatened with execution. 

In one case, a deserter is forced to dig his own grave before being ‘reprieved’ and sent back to the line in a cruel form of psychological torture.

 In another, a unit commander shoots over the heads of his own men to drive them out of a trench and into oncoming enemy fire. 

In units around Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, soldiers who refused to advance have been chained to poles and radiators, or thrown into open pits in the ground and left for days without food in the snow. 

Some were kept under the observation of drones – a menacing presence hovering above, just waiting for the soldier to try to flee, at which point he would likely be killed.

This comes as Western officials say that Russia is losing more troops than it can recruit, with the forces suffering nearly 40,000 casualties every month.

Despite the devastatingly high casualty count, Russia is only recruiting up to 35,000 troops every month, officials added. 

During the last four years, Putin’s forces have seen 1.25million of its soldiers killed or injured on the front lines – more than the total sustained by the US during the whole of WW2. 

Russia has lost an estimated 157,841 soldiers, while Ukraine is believed to have lost 81,721. 

Ukrainian soldiers fire at Russian positions on the front line in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on February 18, 2026

Rescue workers work at the site after a Russian mass missile and drone attack on February 22, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine

Russia’s recruiting strategy of offering bonuses of up to £40,000 to soldiers from impoverished regions of the nation appear to be failing, with analysts questioning how long Putin’s war machine can keep turning. 

Al Carns, the UK’s Armed Forces minister, told the Telegraph: ‘People are realising that it’s a one-way ticket.’

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled, with Russia’s spy agency complicating matters by accusing Britain and France of secretly plotting to give Ukraine nuclear weapons. 

 The SVR alleged London and Paris were were engaged in a clandestine operation to arm Kyiv with more muscle against Moscow by supplying it with a ‘wonder weapon.’

‘Britain and France realise that the developments in Ukraine leave no chance of achieving their much-desired victory over Russia at the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,’ said a statement today from the spy agency.

‘However, the British and French elites are not prepared to accept defeat. It is believed that Ukraine needs to be equipped with “wunderwaffe”.

‘Kyiv would be able to claim more favourable terms for ending the hostilities if it possessed a nuclear bomb, or at least a so-called “dirty bomb”.

A Ukrainian serviceman from an anti-drone mobile fire team prepares to intercept Russian drones at an undisclosed location in the Chernihiv region, northern Ukraine, on February 14 2026

 The SVR alleged: ‘London and Paris are actively working to resolve the issue of providing Kyiv with such weapons and their delivery systems.

‘This involves the covert transfer of European components, equipment, and technology to Ukraine in this area. The French TN75 small-size warhead from the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile is being considered as an option.’

The allegation for which the SVR gave no evidence is likely Moscow’s latest bid to thwart a peace process overseen by Donald Trump.

This comes as today marks the four year anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine.

In a new video, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky taunted Putin and his misjudged belief he would grab Kyiv in 72 hours with almost no resistance.

‘Today marks exactly four years since Putin promised to seize Kyiv in three days,’ he said, goading the Kremlin leader.

‘And this speaks volumes about our resistance, about how Ukraine has been fighting all this time.

In the new video, Zelensky taunted Putin and said ‘he did not break the Ukrainians’

The bunker where Ukrainian leaders gathered to stay safe from Russian attacks

He added: ‘Looking back at the beginning of the invasion and looking at today, we have every right to say: we defended our independence, we did not lose our statehood, Putin did not achieve his goals.

‘He did not break the Ukrainians, he did not win this war.

In the video, Zelensky also showed an underground bunker where he has hidden from Russian missiles.

As the fourth anniversary dawned, Moscow was hit overnight by a mysterious ‘suicide bombing’ at  Savelyevsky railway station  in which senior police lieutenant Denis Bratuschenko, 34, was killed.

Ukraine meanwhile faced attacks on police in Dnipro and Mykolaiv. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa arrived in Kyiv early today.

‘We are in Kyiv for the tenth time since the beginning of the war,’ said von der Leyen.

‘To confirm that Europe is steadfastly supporting Ukraine financially, militarily, and throughout this harsh winter.’