Rise Against We Get Right Back Up Again

Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN)"I desire to tell our commander-in-chief to stop terror acts in Ukraine because when we come back we'll rising confronting him."

Russian President Vladimir Putin "has given orders to commit crimes. It's not only to demilitarize Ukraine or defeat the Armed services of Ukraine, but at present cities of peaceful civilians are being destroyed."

"The crimes that we committed; we all volition be judged."

These are the voices of Russian prisoners of war now held by Ukraine.

Virtually a dozen accept appeared in news conferences held past the Ukrainian regime, just a few of the 600 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says take been captured.

Their public appearances may exist questionable under the Geneva Conventions, which foreclose states from causing unnecessary humiliation to prisoners of war. And it is possible that they felt pressure to limited views sympathetic to those of their captors.

But 3 captured Russian air strength pilots who spoke to CNN did not suggest they were speaking under duress.

CNN requested access to speak with the prisoners with the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. That request was made prior to a press conference that took place in Kyiv on Fri. CNN spoke with the three men immediately after that press briefing.

CNN were the only journalists in the room and at no fourth dimension did Ukrainian Security Services, who were in the room throughout, interject or straight CNN or the prisoners to inquire or respond specific questions. The interview was conducted in Russian.

The prisoners were non handcuffed, and while they didn't move from their seats, seemed to be nether no concrete restraint.

We are reporting the contents of this interview every bit there appears to exist a mutual thread actualization from other Russian prisoners of war speaking following their captures -- that this is not a war they want to be fighting.

The 3 pilots sat around a table. 1 of them had a gash in his brow, which he said had been sustained before his capture.

"The treatment has been acceptable. They've offered us nutrient and drink. They offered medical treatment," said one airplane pilot, whose first name is Maxim.

CNN's interview with the three Russian captives revealed that they had deep disquiet most their mission and the suffering of Ukrainian civilians. They too had harsh words for their commander-in-chief, Putin.

And they spoke of tearful calls dwelling house.

Their testimony appears to back up western assessments that there are morale issues amongst at least some Russian troops in Ukraine. On March 1, a senior US official said the US has "indications that morale is flagging in some" of the Russian units.

"They again did non look the resistance that they were going to get, and that their ain morale has suffered as a effect," the official said.

Maxim, an officer and fighter-bomber pilot, did near of the talking. He looked hobbling and very stake only spoke lucidly in the tone of a professional soldier. CNN is using merely the first names of the prisoners of state of war for their own protection.

He said he had only received his "clandestine combat order" the day before Putin announced the "special military operation" confronting Ukraine.

The pilots were asked what they idea nigh Putin's claims that Ukraine was run past neo-Nazis.

"I think it was invented every bit a pretext and is something that the earth cannot understand," Proverb said. "But Putin and his circle need this in order to accomplish their own objectives. Ane such step was that it would be beneficial for them to spread disinformation about fascism and Nazism."

"We didn't see any Nazis or fascists. Russians and Ukrainians can communicate in the same language, so we come across the good (in these people)," Saying said.

"Information technology'due south hard to give a direct assessment of his deportment. But, at the bare minimum, judging past the consequences of his orders, he is wrong."

At a different media briefing in the same venue, a reconnaissance officer called Vladimir who had been captured told a group of international reporters, "Our government told us nosotros demand to liberate the civilian population. I want to tell Russian servicemen: lay downwardly your arms and go out your stations, don't come here. Everyone wants peace here."

Vladimir so went a big step further, proverb: "I want to tell our commander-in-chief to stop terror acts in Ukraine because when we come back we'll rising against him."

Some other reconnaissance officer at the same event echoed the sentiment, addressing Putin direct.

"You won't hide this for long. There are many like us here. Sooner or later on, we'll come home."

Speaking to CNN, Maxim, the pilot, became emotional about the suffering inflicted on civilians since the invasion.

"It's not merely about demilitarizing Ukraine or the defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but now cities of peaceful civilians are being destroyed. Even, I don't know, what tin can justify, f**k, the tears of a child, or even worse, the deaths of innocent people, children."

He said they were aware of what had happened in places similar Mariupol, where nearly 1,600 people have been killed since the invasion began.

"It was a horrifying fact, not just because it is a crime. Information technology'southward vandalism. You cannot forgive such things. To bomb a maternity ward?" he said.

"It's the most perverse f**king form of neo-Nazism, neo-fascism. Who could think of such a thing?"

Some other airplane pilot, whose start proper noun is Alexei, added quietly, "It's non really up to u.s., who to bomb, what to bomb. It's a control."

Captives talk of confusion, reluctance

Maxim and his swain pilots suggested at that place was widespread disquiet about the Ukraine offensive.

"I know in my unit, they are totally against it," Maxim said.

"They have many relatives and friends [in Ukraine], and they were told it was an functioning localized to the DNR [the breakaway Russian-backed Donetsk area], and non an attack on the whole land. My division was totally against information technology."

"If Ukraine wanted to become part of Russian federation, to strike upward some cooperation -- by all means. No one would exist confronting that. But to force them is just non acceptable."

Neil Greenberg is a professor of defence mental health at King'due south College London. He served in the UK Armed Forces for more 20 years and has deployed, every bit a psychiatrist and researcher, to a number of hostile environments.

He explained that under the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war are bound to give only their names, rank, date of birth and military identification number. "That'southward all you have to give so the fact that they are saying more than than that suggests that either they have been put in a difficult situation because they take had force per unit area put on them, or that they are distressed plenty that they have broken protocol considering they believe what they are saying," Greenberg told CNN.

"What's interesting from a psychological point of view is that the average soldier doesn't often have the political ideals of whoever runs the country. So if you ask soldiers why they do what they practise, they often say they do it because they are fighting for each other -- we are a band of brothers and therefore we are going to exercise what we exercise considering nosotros are post-obit orders and we look after each other," he added.

"Information technology'south unlikely that they would have the same ethics equally Putin and so it would be wrong to think automatically that those views were non true."

Another soldier held by the Ukrainians told a separate media briefing of his artillery unit'south entry from Republic of belarus downwardly the road to Chernihiv. He teared upwardly equally he spoke of meeting locals who told his unit to become habitation, and said, "At that place are no fascists here."

He too spoke of confusion among units. His grouping became stuck in a swamp and had to destroy their infantry fighting vehicle. They wandered on human foot for several days earlier reaching a village and surrendering later on an exchange of burn down.

Some other Russian soldier -- in a video released by Ukrainian media -- said he had crossed from Crimea on the first night of the offensive.

The unnamed soldier, who said he was 22 years erstwhile and gave his unit of measurement's number, said it was presently obvious that "nosotros are not here as peacekeepers, but to fight. We asked commanders what the f**yard nosotros are doing here. Nosotros couldn't turn around and leave. Behind were the echelons [units] that kill deserters."

The soldier said, "Nosotros were told there were no civilians in every settlement. Just they were there. It worried us.

"Nosotros had already realized that missiles were flying at the civilian population, against ordinary towns but not on military machine facilities. Although we were told quite the opposite. So, we surrendered."

Final-minute orders

Maxim said he had received his combat orders the twenty-four hours before Putin announced the invasion.

And then, he said, there was a surprise.

"The order was canceled. Part of the air force that had already taken off had to turn dorsum. We were happy and thought that possibly things had been resolved peacefully."

He was wrong -- and soon received a list of coordinates for targets in eastern Ukraine, effectually Izium and Chuhuiv.

He said he was not sure what he was hitting. "It's incommunicable to actually know what is beyond our land borders. For case, they marking down a column of tanks. But we cannot be sure if in that location is really one at that place or not."

CNN has analyzed multiple instances in which air-dropped bombs have striking civilian areas in Ukraine since the invasion began on February 24.

"We but dropped non-locating missiles," Maxim said, pregnant what analysts describe equally "dumb bombs," unguided munitions which pose a greater hazard of causing indiscriminate damage.

"I only used the usual explosive bombs, fabricated of cast iron... the same kind that were used during World War Two with some changes here and there over the years. There are more modern ballistic varieties, of grade, but the fact remains that nosotros did not use those," Maxim added.

Last week, US and NATO officials said Russia had relied far more heavily on less sophisticated, so-chosen "dumb bombs" than information technology has on its arsenal of precision-guided munitions.

"It's difficult to say at this signal whether that's driven past expense, if that'southward driven by a lack of inventory or if that'south only driven by a want to be more vicious in the in the utilize of force," a senior NATO official said on Thursday.

Other Russian soldiers captured by the Ukrainians accept also spoken of last-minute orders.

Sergey, who was with an artillery unit of measurement, said in an earlier media briefing that "at 10:00 am on the 23rd (of February) they were lined up and told by the commander well-nigh Putin'south guild to attack Ukraine, seize Kyiv and "protect the population confronting the fascism and tyranny in Ukraine."

An uncertain time to come

The pilots who spoke to CNN were uncertain about how the state of war would cease.

"I hope our superiors have control over the circumstances. How things are going to develop in the future, to make a wish for some consequence, I'1000 non going to do that here, to say what I desire," Maxim said.

He besides spoke of his outset contact with family back home.

"I said 'I'thousand live' considering it was our commencement chat. I told them: 'I'm live and being held convict.'

"We talked about personal things. Nigh our kids, the home; not almost military stuff.

"Of class, we really want to see our families and loved ones. To see with them. And hug them considering they are worried."

But they were anxious about what might happen to them, said Saying.

"The crimes that we committed; we all will be judged the same. Other than that, I cannot say. It's impossible to gauge ... They volition approximate the states," said Maxim.

Another soldier at a different conference expressed similar feelings.

"It feels terrible to realize our error. Information technology volition take years, decades, centuries to repair relations," he said.

"I wish I could sink into the earth and vanish."

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Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/15/europe/ukraine-russian-prisoners-of-war-intl/index.html

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