POLITICS
In early October, Russian soldiers executed nine Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) who had surrendered to them during Kyiv’s ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, now well into its third month. This incident is just one of many examples from a rising wave of non-combat killings being carried out by the Russian Armed Forces. Victims of these rampages include Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered, civilians trying to go about their lives in places like Kherson, and even other Russian soldiers. Reports of widespread killings by Russian soldiers first surfaced in the spring of 2022, with civilians in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions among the victims. This latest wave of violence, however, may prove to be even more widespread. And participants in the so-called “special military operation” — especially former prisoners from the disbanded Wagner Group and Storm Z units — are continuing to commit heinous crimes on the “home front” after returning to Russia. The Insider reviewed documented cases and spoke with experts to get a better understanding of why Russian soldiers are increasingly targeting civilians on both sides of the war.
“Human safari”
Since the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s civilian population has faced severe violence. UN data indicates that since February 2022, a confirmed 11,973 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 25,943 wounded, though the organization cautions that these figures are incomplete. Most casualties in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which fell on May 20, 2022, after a prolonged Russian siege, remain uncounted, with the most conservative estimates placing fatalities there at around 8,000. In the early months of the invasion, Russian soldiers killed civilians not only in combat and through shelling, but also in close encounters, with the Bucha massacre — which claimed at least 419 lives — standing as one of the most infamous examples of Russian war crimes.
The killing of civilians in Ukraine’s occupied territories did not end after Bucha, though reports of similar atrocities have become far less frequent. In October 2024, Ukraine’s Center for Investigative Journalism found that Russian soldiers tortured to death a resident of occupied Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson Region. Earlier in September, Ukrainian volunteer Serhiy Nakonechny reported that Russian troops had killed 11 residents of the recently captured town of Ukrainsk who had earlier refused to evacuate the area. In some instances, Russia’s occupation authorities detained the perpetrators; in April, former convict Vasily Sazin was arrested after fatally shooting two men following a quarrel in occupied Lysychansk. That same month, two Russian soldiers were arrested for killing five people, including the head of the village administration in Abrykosivka in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson Region.
Recently, Russia’s actions against civilians have taken on what locals in Ukrainian-controlled parts of Kherson Region have called a “human safari.” The moniker, which refers to Russia’s deliberate targeting of civilians in the area — including drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians — was detailed to The Kyiv Independent by the city’s residents in early October. The report cited one of the locals as saying that Russian drone operators are using “any moving target for training.”
The Ukrainian Telegram channel Tysk reported that the Russian Armed Forces have designated a “red zone” in the city where they target any vehicles, while more “serious” objects are struck with artillery and guided aerial bombs — with no regard for civilian casualties. Russian forces, meanwhile, are publicly flaunting footage confirming the allegations — one example shows an explosive dropped on a UN refugee agency vehicle in mid-October. Drone operator Moisei (lit. “Moses”), a well-known figure in the Russian military, has also confirmed the targeting of civilians, and even called on the local population in Kherson to disclose Ukrainian positions to “spare lives and property.” As the operator wrote in a Telegram post on Oct: 2, “We guarantee you absolute immunity from our drones, and we guarantee anonymity. [...] You help us, and we won’t accidentally touch you.” Just in case the sarcasm contained in his “accidentally” was not clear, Moisei added a smiley face emoticon.
“No time” to deal with POWs
It is not only Ukrainian civilians who fall victim to these atrocities, but also soldiers who surrender to Russian forces. According to data cited by the UN, 95% of Ukrainian prisoners endure torture and abuse. One well-known case is that of 22-year-old Ukrainian marine Yuriy Hulchuk, who was unable to speak for days following his release from captivity. Yet many Ukrainians never even reach prison camps, as Russian soldiers frequently execute those who surrender on the spot.
These killings are often caught on video by drones. One particularly disturbing incident involved the execution of 16 Ukrainian POWs in the Pokrovsk area. Others have been revealed through videos recorded by the Russians themselves — footage of the execution of Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Matsiyevsky, who managed to say “Glory to Ukraine!” (“Slava Ukraini”) before being shot, went viral online in March last year. Another Russian video from a position near Avdiivka showed the bodies of wounded Ukrainian soldiers left behind as the Russians advanced. The Ukrainian 110th Brigade, to which the deceased soldiers belonged, reported that an agreement had been made with Russian forces to take the wounded into custody and provide them with medical assistance. The Russians, however, violated the agreement and executed the brigade’s soldiers.
Further information on these cases comes from Russian soldiers themselves. After collecting the testimonies of Russian prisoners captured by Ukrainian special forces as they were clearing the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant, the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the shooting of Ukrainian POWs at the site. Another Russian captive, detained by the Ukrainian National Guard’s Azov Brigade, revealed that his command ordered the execution of prisoners based on the justification that they “didn’t have time to deal with them.”
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office has now documented over one hundred cases of Russian soldiers executing POWs. Yuriy Bielousov, a representative of the office, reported that 80% of these executions were recorded in 2024. Notably, the last substantiated accusations against Ukrainian soldiers for killing prisoners were made all the way back in late 2022. Despite ongoing allegations from Russian pro-war groups accusing the Ukrainian Armed Forces of similar actions, no videos of such incidents have surfaced — even though Russian forces are known to closely monitor the battlefield via drones, just as their Ukrainian counterparts do.
Despite this, commentators in Russia’s pro-war community readily justify these executions, and Russian groups such as the neo-Nazi “Rusich” unit openly encourage it. This is hardly surprising, as the investigative group Bellingcat has provided compelling evidence that the group’s leader, Alexey Milchakov, was photographed holding a severed human head in Syria. Previously, such atrocities were primarily associated with the paramilitary and mercenary groups; however, regular Russian units now appear to have joined in. In a video from the 155th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade filmed in Russia’s Belgorod Region, a head — likely that of a Ukrainian soldier — can be seen mounted on a pole. Another Ukrainian soldier, hands bound with tape, was impaled with a sword inscribed with the words “For Kursk” — though the incident took place not in Kursk, but in the recently occupied town of Novohrodivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region.
“Zeroing out”
Amid reports of routine executions of Ukrainian prisoners, it is not surprising that Russian soldiers have also faced similar fates. The Insider has previously reported (1, 2) on the “gulag-style” punishment system inside the Russian units fighting in Ukraine. Until recently, soldiers who committed infractions had only died as a result of excessive torture and beatings (1, 2), with deliberate extrajudicial killings largely tied to the Wagner PMC — infamous for incidents like the sledgehammer execution of Yevgeny Nuzhin, who had returned from captivity in Ukraine. Now, however, the practice seems to have transferred from the effectively defunct Wagner to the regular Russian army.
Russian soldiers often record videos complaining (1, 2, 3) that their commanders threaten them with “zeroing out” (military slang for extrajudicial executions) for disobeying orders — including for refusing to participate in so-called “meat grinder assaults.” In some cases, such as a recent video from soldiers of the 19th Tank Regiment, these threats have reportedly been carried out. Some cases have come to light through Russian criminal proceedings — the most high-profile one involving the murder of seven soldiers from the 6th Motor Rifle Division, who were taken to a frontline basement and killed with grenades.
Another form of “zeroing out” involves forcing soldiers into the aforementioned “meat grinder assaults” — often following conflicts and disputes with their commanders. A recent example saw Russian drone operators Dmitry Lysakovsky (call sign “Goodwin”) and Sergey Gritsay (call sign “Ernest”), both conscripts from occupied Donetsk, killed after being ordered to act as storm troopers. Members of Russia’s pro-war community blamed their deaths on a conflict with unit commander Igor Puzik, who reportedly chose to eliminate his subordinates in order to prevent them publishing “up-to-date information from the front line.” Puzik has retained his position as commander of the unit. Proving the commanders’ guilt in these cases is often impossible, as many Russian units lack formally designated drone operators. These specialists often officially hold other roles, such as rifleman or sniper, and they are sometimes reassigned to assault units due to personnel shortages that have nothing to do with the whims of a superior.
There are also sporadic mentions of “blocking units” being tasked with shooting assault soldiers who refuse to advance. Available public evidence suggests that these practices are generally improvised. A video showing “blocking units” in action was shared on the “Spy Dossier” (Dossier Shpiona) Telegram channel, which is reportedly linked to Russian intelligence.
“The brigade commander (codename ‘Boroda,’ or ‘Beard’) orders an officer (codename ‘Myasnik,’ or ‘Butcher’) to ‘push the group forward’ and ‘make sure no one refuses.’
At 2:25, the phrase ‘if they disobey, you know what to do’ is heard. At 2:38, the soldier recording the video explains ‘what to do — to zero them out, to waste them.’”
The entire “zeroing out” system appears to have developed spontaneously, radically differing from Russian practices in previous wars. During World War II, over 157,000 Soviet soldiers were executed based on military tribunal verdicts alone, but the Soviet military-political leadership sought to formalize the executions through dedicated blocking units and SMERSH counterintelligence officers. The current situation, in which commanders form informal groups tasked with carrying out torture and killings, contributes to the Russian army's moral decay and heightens the risks to Russian civilians as soldiers bring back the front-line culture of violence when they return home.
Terror on the “home front”
Soldiers returning from the so-called “special military operation” zone often appear in criminal reports connected with murders and other crimes. According to the independent Russian news outlet Verstka, by late September 2024, at least 242 people in Russia have died, and another 227 have sustained severe injuries, as a result of actions by veterans of the Ukraine invasion. This figure is comparable to the 398 civilian deaths reported from 2022 to 2024 due to shelling in Russia’s border regions, as reported by Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s human rights commissioner. Over half of these violent offenders are former prisoners who served six-month contracts in Wagner or Storm Z units, receiving a pardon in exchange. Taking part in the invasion is often treated as a mitigating factor in court, leading to suspended sentences in cases where the victims survive.
Some of these crimes have been particularly brutal: in one case in the Leningrad Region, a former Wagner fighter killed and dismembered his partner’s sister following a domestic dispute. There has also been at least one instance of “friendly fire” on the “home front” — in Volgograd, a previously convicted Ukraine war veteran brutally murdered a friend, also a former convict and fellow former veteran, during an argument at the dinner table. Verstka reports that friends, acquaintances, and family members are the most frequent victims when veterans lash out after returning home.
“Unfortunately, the link between taking part in combat and cases of domestic violence is as direct as it gets,” a psychotherapist specializing in PTSD (requesting anonymity) told The Insider:
“The fact is, prolonged time on the front line, especially under conditions of extreme violence, can lead to severe psychological disorders such as PTSD, combat trauma, depression, anxiety, and others. Adapting to a combat environment is damaging to social life, as it involves training to release aggression, to attack, and to kill, rather than to restrain. This adaptation suits the battlefield, but not civilian life, where norms demand that aggression is restrained, no one is attacked, and lives are respected.
We’re already witnessing the consequences, and these will only grow — rising crime rates, domestic violence, murders, and the formation of marginalized individuals who struggle to integrate back into society and may turn to alcoholism. There’s also the negative societal view on the war, meaning that many returning soldiers are unwanted here — except by their close family and friends. As they are socially unadapted, we will see large numbers of people excluded from society and burdened with psychological disorders. Their prospects are bleak, and we urgently need a comprehensive integration program, which we currently lack at the state level.”
The Russian military, it appears, also lacks an effective system for monitoring soldiers' mental health on the front lines. Rather than taking measures to prevent the crimes committed by its soldiers, Russian military police seem focused largely on intercepting volunteer vehicles and scrutinizing soldiers' appearances at checkpoints in the rear. In the Russian Armed Forces, the value placed on soldiers’ lives is exceedingly low. It comes as little surprise that preserving the lives of Ukrainian and Russian civilians — let alone of Ukrainian POWs — is an even lower priority. This reality suggests that the wave of killings — on the front lines, in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, and in the Russian rear — is likely to intensify.