Russian soldiers ordered to die before capture in Ukraine war
The war in Ukraine, ongoing since 2022, has brought immense suffering and loss to both sides. Russian soldiers receive special instructions from their command. They are ordered not to be taken captive and are instructed on how to commit suicide. "Remember: you are a warrior of great Russia," the document's authors assert.
The war in Ukraine continues. In nearly three years of full-scale conflict, the media have reported on captured soldiers and those brutally executed without adherence to international law. Poles are also active in Ukraine, trying to assist our Ukrainians.
One such person is Damian Duda. He is the president of the "In the Meantime" foundation — the organisation's task is to dispatch combat medics. He posted a document online found on a dead Russian in the Zaporizhzhia region. It revealed that each soldier receives instructions to commit suicide in the event of failure rather than be captured.
Maintain honour to the end, reads the instruction title. To ensure immediate death, you must aim at critical areas of the head. Stay calm and confidently pull the trigger. If you don't have a weapon, use a grenade. Remember: you are a warrior of great Russia. Your honour lies in loyalty to the end, wrote Duda on the X portal.
The war in Ukraine: How many people have died?
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, both Russia and Ukraine have suffered significant losses in both human and military resources. NATO Secretary-General, Mark Rutte, announced that more than a million people have died or been injured due to the warfare.
Figures on casualties in the Ukraine war vary depending on the source, partly due to propaganda and difficulties verifying data from the conflict zone. Donald Trump, in one of his statements, pointed to 600,000 casualties on the Russian side and 400,000 on the Ukrainian side.
In contrast, estimates by the British magazine "The Economist" ranged from 60,000 to 100,000 Ukrainian fatalities. Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, presented media figures indicating that fewer than 80,000 Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers have died since the conflict began.
The BBC and Mediazona estimated Russian losses based on battlefield reports, indicating that Russia could have been losing up to 1,500 soldiers daily in November 2023. Media reports that the British Ministry of Defence registered over 600,000 injured Russians since the conflict began, with as many as 200,000 being killed soldiers.
