Russian conscript thanks Ukrainians for saving his life after attempting suicide with a grenade.
Russian conscript thanks Ukrainians for saving his life after attempting suicide with a grenade.
https://t.me/pravdaGerashchenko_en/33993
"I can only say thank you for saving my life," - a captured Russian conscript who blew himself up with a grenade in order not to surrender has confirmed that in Russia, soldiers are programmed to commit suicide, being told about the long and painful torture in captivity.
Fyodor, a conscript from St. Petersburg, told a UNIAN journalist how he blew himself up together with a comrade when the Armed Forces of Ukraine approached his position in Russia's Kursk region.
"I took out a grenade. He [his comrade] said, "Let's do it." We hugged each other, threw it on the ground and said some last warm words to each other. The comrade also has a leg wound. At that point, I had already realized three times that I was closer to death. We were afraid to surrender, we didn't know what would happen here. We were afraid that there would be long and painful torture. But considering how it is in reality now, I can only say thank you for saving my life and curing me," he said.
According to Fyodor, he was given first aid by the Ukrainian military. They shared water and cigarettes with the prisoners and brought medicine to the wounded from other dugouts.
📹: Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News
With how awful this war is, it’s nice to see common human decency and gratitude on display for a change.
120The reason Russian soldiers behave as they do is they're conditioned to believe its totally normal military behavior. "If we don't do it that's what will happen to us," is what they're brought to believe. The Russian Federation is a pure terrorist state. The people of Russia need big daddy Putin to keep them safe from all the manufactured fears that big daddy Putin is feeding them. I was reading this morning about how Ukraine is currently having a bit of a public health emergency because there aren't enough therapists to help Russian POW's navigate the social whiplash they're experience from not being tortured. They were promised that nothing could be worse than a Ukrainian POW camp and they're finding it to be more pleasant than standing guard over Russian land. Like... These are people who have been so traumatized for so long that kindness is its own form of trauma. It recontextualizes all of their prior experiences and its a lot to take in.
100It's really only the Russian military who has been awful, and it's almost tragic how much Putin and Russia's military doctrine have destroyed these kids' minds. They turned children into monsters, then justifed their actions by claiming the enemy is just as monstrous. Meanwhile, all of us outside Russia can't even imagine why a conscript wouldn't want to surrender to the Ukrainians, who have consistently shown themselves to be excellent people who are willing to care for these conscripts even despite some of the things they've done.
26
I'm reminded of what Japanese soldiers were told about Americans. From what I recall, they, too, would commit suicide rather than be captured, fearing torture. Awful.
60Back then it was almost impossible for the average Japanese person to get news not controlled by the Japanese government, but is Putin's control over the Russian internet so effective that Russians also have no information that he doesn't control?
25He doesn't need to have watertight censorship of outside sources to have meaningful control. The USA has relatively little censorship and we still have a sizable population that are happy to accept any old bullshit as fact, without any impetus to question or validate it.
15AFAIK it's more of a nudge-theoretic information bubble. Most people will just listen to the news put right in front of them. Russian language independent outlets targeted at Russia exist, but obviously are facing an uphill battle to distribute their stuff there, and if they do get through there's no way for a person to know they're not just a different kind of propaganda. Plus, the version Russian media tells is much more flattering to you, a Russian.
If you're the kind of person who's ends up on Lemmy, you may be willing to learn English and expose yourself to the outside world, however ugly what you find is. Most people are not that savvy, though.
7It's not total control, but it's so highly laced in propoganda and unreliable that Russians don't trust western media either, assuming it's the same. It's just like how politics in russia is something that's not for normal people so no one pays any interest in it.
5A lot of people don’t get their news from the internet. Especially the older generations. The same generation that send young men to die in pointless wars.
3Most social media is blocked in Russia, if I'm not mistaken, so yeah, probably.
Which is sad. Nothing good ever comes of leaders stopping their people from speaking freely with foreigners.
That, by the way, is why Chat Control, KOSA, and similar legislation must be stopped. It's the same damn thing as Russian and Chinese censorship, with the same foul purpose.
2
Given the things that have come to light since then, I can't fault them for choosing suicide over capture.
1Um… the Imperial Japanese had a very well documented history of horrible treatment of prisoners. Yes, small units were horrible in the Us forces, the poor treatment was quite wide spread in the Japanese side.
2like?
2
Wait, how exactly did they survive the grenade? Just dumb luck?
22If blood is reaching your brain the human body is pretty resilient.
If a trauma patient can make it to a modern hospital while still alive they're probably going to keep them alive.
15tl;dr yes, dumb luck
7
"I took out a grenade. He [his comrade] said, "Let's do it." We hugged each other, threw it on the ground and said some last warm words to each other. The comrade also has a leg wound.
It sounds like they were standing, dropped the grenade at their feet, and were hugging each other. The hug would possibly reduce some damage to center mass, and it sounds like both have injuries to the legs. If the grenade rolled away that would increase survivability. It also sounds like the interviewee took the brunt of the damage.
But don't listen to me, the closest I've come to a grenade is a Chipotle burrito with bad arvo
15Well it was presumably a Russian made grenade, maybe it didn't have any fragmentation due to cost cuts. also presumably the Ukrainians were quick to find the two and treat them before they died to blood loss.
8
They shared water and cigarettes with the prisoners...
Ah, suicide by the long route, allowing the Russian soldier to be a drain on the state with emphysema. Good long term thinking.
13I don't think any of the soldiers on the frontline are even worth torturing to be honest. None of them know anything as they're simply being told to do something.
7Is this how you "kill them with kindness"? Danm, I'm not crying,.. you're crying!
6