Four Russian soldiers have told the BBC they witnessed fellow troops being executed on commanders’ orders and described torture, humiliation and near-suicidal assault missions along the front line in Ukraine.
In a documentary, The Zero Line: Inside Russia’s War, the men – now outside Russia and on the run – gave detailed accounts of what they said was a collapse of discipline and law within their units. Two said they saw soldiers shot at point-blank range for refusing to return to combat, says BBC.
One of them, Ilya, 35, a former teacher of children with special needs from Kungur in the Ural Mountains, said he was mobilised in May 2024 alongside 78 other men at a recruitment centre in Perm. He later became responsible for identifying and counting the dead and produced lists showing he was the only survivor of his group of 79.
He said that upon arriving in Ukraine, most of the men were sent directly to the front. He did not want to shoot or kill anyone and was assigned to a command post. Conditions were harsh, he said, and he saw four soldiers shot by a commander in Russian-occupied Donetsk after they fled the front line and refused to return.
“The saddest thing is that I knew them,” he said, recalling one man pleading for his life. Soldiers described the practice as “zeroing”, Russian military slang for executing one’s own troops as punishment and a warning to others.
“Your fate depended on your commander. The commander is on the radio: ‘Zero this one, zero that one,’” Ilya said.
Dima, 34, who worked as a dishwasher repairman in Moscow before being detained by police in October 2022 and told he would face jail if he did not join the army, said such killings were not isolated.
“Of course they kill their own men, it’s a normal thing,” he said.
He initially joined a paramedic unit despite lacking medical experience and was later assigned to the 25th Brigade, evacuating wounded soldiers. There, he said, he saw his commander shoot men at close range.
“I see it – just two metres, three metres. Just murders, just click, clack, bang. It’s not a drama, it’s not a movie, it’s real life,” he said.
Dima named his commander as Alexei Ksenofontov, who was awarded Russia’s highest state honour, the Gold Star, and named a “Hero of Russia” in 2024. Families of soldiers who died in his unit wrote to President Vladimir Putin in January 2025 alleging brutality and accusing commanders of receiving awards amid heavy losses.
Dima said he also saw 20 bodies lying in a ditch after being shot. The men, many of them former convicts, had arrived at his base the night before. He said he was told a commander had shot them and taken their bank cards.
“Twenty lads were brought to us. They just took their bank cards and killed them,” he said, adding that reports could be fabricated to write off deaths.
Another former soldier, Denis, 27, described what Russian troops call “meat storms” – repeated waves of assaults intended to exhaust Ukrainian forces. The tactic forms part of what is known as a “meat grinder” strategy.
“I saw them send wave after wave, throwing men like meat at the Ukrainians,” Denis said.
Dima said his regiment lost 200 men in three days during its first such assault. “We had 200 dead in three days. On our regiment’s first meat storm they broke us,” he said.
The UK Ministry of Defence estimates that between 900 and 1,500 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded each day in 2025. It also says more than 1.2 million Russian troops have been killed or injured since the full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022. Moscow does not release official casualty figures.
The Russian government said its armed forces operate “with utmost restraint” and that allegations of violations are investigated. It said it was unable to independently verify the information provided.
The men also described punishment for refusing assaults. Ilya showed footage of soldiers held in a pit in Donetsk, fed dry grains and mocked. He said some were starved for days and electrocuted before being sent into assaults unarmed.
After he refused to take part in an attack, Ilya said he was tied to a tree, beaten and humiliated. “They put a gun to my head,” he said, adding that he was urinated on and left bound for half a day. After being released, he attempted to take his own life.
Denis said humiliation had become routine and showed a photograph he said was taken after a superior knocked out two of his teeth because he refused to search for a missing drone.
Dima said he was later promoted against his wishes. After refusing to send his men on a “meat storm”, he said he was arrested by military police and taken to a makeshift prison in Zaitsevo.
“They are torturing me with electric shock,” he said, adding he was subjected to daily torture for 72 days.
All four men said they remain psychologically scarred.
“I have dreams. I see a forest full of dead bodies,” Dima said.
“I’m a criminal, and nobody cares – my crime is just I don’t want to kill,” he said, adding that many soldiers “hate commanders, who hate Putin, who hate our system”.
Ilya said he loved his country “but not what Putin has done to it”.
“They almost broke me, but not completely,” he said.
