NAIROBI, Kenya- Several Russian soldiers have given harrowing first‑hand accounts of witnessing their own comrades being executed on the orders of commanders during the four‑year war in Ukraine, according to interviews featured in a BBC documentary.
In the documentary The Zero Line: Inside Russia’s War, four former Russian servicemen describe conditions on the front line that they say include executions of soldiers who refused orders, torture, and brutal “meat storm” assaults they viewed as near‑suicide missions.
One former soldier, identified as Dima, said he saw fellow troops shot on the direct orders of a commander, and later discovered the bodies of about 20 men lying in a pit after being “zeroed” — Russian military slang for executing one’s own.
“I see it — just two metres, three metres… click, clack, bang,” he told the BBC.
Another serviceman, Ilya, recounted seeing four men shot at point‑blank range by a commander after they fled the front and refused to return to their positions.
“The saddest thing is that I knew them,” he said, recalling one soldier begging for his life.
The soldiers described being subjected to severe mistreatment themselves when they resisted participating in what they called “meat storms”, tactics in which commanders repeatedly send waves of largely exposed troops across the battlefield to wear down Ukrainian forces.
In addition to executions, the interviewees spoke of torture, including electric shocks, starvation, and degrading punishments, administered to soldiers who refused orders or tried to avoid front‑line fighting.
Some described being humiliated and physically abused before being forced into dangerous missions.
These testimonies are among the first detailed accounts from Russian frontline soldiers publicly shared with Western media.
The Russian government has denied such claims, saying its forces “operate with utmost restraint” and treat personnel with “maximum care”, and has stated that alleged violations are investigated.
The disclosures come as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth year, with the UK Ministry of Defence estimating that approximately 1.2 million Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the conflict.
The BBC documentary aims to shed light on the human cost of the war and the internal morale and discipline crises facing Russian forces, as well as the extreme pressures endured by conscripted and mobilised soldiers at the front.
