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BBC
- February 24, 2026 13:11 AM
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In the BBC documentary “Zero Line: Inside Russia’s War,” soldiers detailed how they were tortured simply for not taking part in attacks they described as suicide missions. Russian troops call these attacks “meat storms.” Soldiers there are constantly being sent to the front lines to try to weaken Ukrainian forces.
Four Russian soldiers have told the BBC of the horror and brutality of conditions on the front lines in Ukraine. Two of them have told the BBC that they saw their comrades executed for refusing orders.
A soldier has said that he saw another soldier being executed on the orders of the commander, who was declared a "Hero of Russia" in 2024.
"I just saw it – two or three meters... click-clack, bam," he said.
Another soldier, from a different unit, said he saw his commander kill four people himself.
"I knew them," he said of the executed soldiers. "I remember one of them shouting 'don't shoot, I'll do anything'!"
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One of them also said he saw about 20 bodies of soldiers in a pit after they had been “zeroed” by their commanders. “Zero” is a term used in Russian military jargon for executing your own people.
In the documentary “Zero Line: Inside Russia’s War,” soldiers detailed how they were tortured simply for not taking part in attacks they described as suicide missions. Russian troops call these attacks “meat storms.” Soldiers there are constantly being sent to the front lines to try to weaken Ukrainian forces.
For the first time, Russian soldiers from the front lines have spoken out loud about witnessing moments when commanders give execution orders to their soldiers.
One of them, whose job it was to identify and count dead soldiers, provided detailed lists showing that he was the only survivor of a group of 79 men with whom he had been mobilized. Because he had refused to go to the front line, he said he was tortured by having them urinate on him. Others in the units who refused were tortured with electric shocks, starved and then thrown into unarmed 'meat storms,' he said.
The four men, who are on the run, have given their testimonies from a location outside Russia.
Almost all public opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been outside Russia. Official death tolls are not released by Moscow, but according to the UK Ministry of Defence, more than 1.2 million Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022.
The Russian government has said its armed forces "operate with maximum restraint, as far as possible in conditions of high-intensity conflict, treating personnel with the utmost care."
"Allegations of violence and crimes are properly investigated," she said. "We are unable to verify the accuracy and authenticity of the information you have provided to us."
First-hand testimonies from the four men have also corroborated reports of violations of order and orders on the front lines on the Russian side.
Commanders who kill their soldiers
Ilya, a soldier who identified and counted the dead, is one of the men who said he saw soldiers being killed by commanders.
Before the war, the 35-year-old cared for children with special needs and autism in Kungur. Then, in May 2024, police went to his parents' house and told him they were being summoned by the authorities.
He was then mobilized alongside 78 other men at a recruitment center in the city of Perm.
“Almost everyone was drunk,” he said. “Come to the battlefield! We will capture Zelensky and raise our flag,” he recalled their chants. “I was looking at them and thinking, ‘How did I end up here?’ I was so scared.”
Upon arriving in Ukraine, Ilya said most of the men were immediately sent to the battlefield. He said he didn't want to shoot or kill anyone, and ended up in a command post.
The conditions were brutal. He said he witnessed four soldiers being shot at close range by a commander – one in Panteleimonivka and three in Novoazovsk, both in Russian-occupied Donetsk. All were killed because they had fled the battlefield and refused to return.
"The hardest thing was that I knew them. I remember one of them shouting 'don't shoot, I'll do anything!', but he made them 'zero'," Ilya said.
"Zero" is usually carried out as a punitive measure for refusing orders and is also considered a lesson for others who might consider doing the same, according to soldiers who have testified.
"Your fate depends on the commander. The commander is on the radio: Zero this, zero that," Ilya said.
The execution of soldiers who refused orders was not limited to Ilyas' unit.
"Of course they kill their own people. It's normal," Dima said.
Before the war, the 34-year-old lived with his wife and daughter and worked in Moscow as a dishwasher repairman.
In October 2022, he was walking to another place for work when a group of police officers stopped him.
"If you don't go to war, you'll go to prison"
"They took my passport, did something to my laptop and told me 'if you don't go to war, you'll go to prison,'" he recalled.
Dima said he didn't want to kill anyone, so even though he had no medical experience, he joined a medical unit. Later, he was transferred to a brigade where he was tasked with evacuating wounded soldiers from the front lines.
It was precisely the 25th Brigade, in which Dima said he saw his comrades being executed on the orders of the commander.
"I saw them – just two or three meters away. Just murder, just click-clack, bam. It's not a drama, it's not even a movie. It's real life," he said.
Dimas' commander, Alexei Ksenofontov, had received the title of "Golden Star", the highest state medal, and was declared "Hero of Russia" in 2024.
But Ksenofontov had been accused by many families of soldiers killed in his unit. In a joint letter in January 2025, they directly asked Putin to intervene in the allegations of brutality in his unit.
"They defended their homeland with honor and pride!!! But in reality, they found themselves among these commanders, who receive decorations for tens of thousands of deaths and disappearances," the letter said. "And they continue to exterminate our men.
Dima calls Xenofontov "butcher".
"He has given many orders to kill soldiers, he has a lot of blood on his hands, a lot."
Dima recounted how he saw the bodies of 20 men, who had arrived at his base the night before, lying in an area after being shot.
He had spoken to several of them, all ex-convicts, before witnessing their capture the following morning.
As a doctor, the deaths were constantly reported to Dima. He said he was informed that these men had been shot dead by a commander and that their bank cards had been taken.
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"20 men came to us. They took their bank cards and killed them. It's no problem to remove someone from the list. You just make a report," he recalled.
Dimas was told that the bank cards were taken by the commanders.
The BBC documentary also took the account of another soldier - a senior officer who said he had served in the Russian army for 17 years. The former officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said he had spoken to a man who had helped kill a group of high-ranking officials.
The man said he was part of a “liquidation squad that was sent to finish off the survivors,” the Russian officer recalled. “I have never seen anything like this in all my years of service.”
All four men have given details of how they experienced the "meat storms" - part of the Russian "meat grinder" tactic on Ukrainian soil.
These storms were so deadly that they were loosely considered suicide missions.
"I saw them (commanders) sending wave after wave, throwing people like meat into the hands of the Ukrainians, so that they would spend their weapons and drones, and then they would throw another wave to reach their targets," said another former soldier, named Denis.
Almost every day in 2025, around 900-1500 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in Ukraine, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
Dima showed how the "storm" worked in practice.
"You send three men, then three. If they don't do the job, send 10 more. If even 10 doesn't do the job, send 50 more," he said. "You'll break through eventually. That's the logic of the army."
"We had 200 killed in three days. In the first storm of our regiment, they broke us. Our regiment was destroyed in just three days," he said.
Dima then showed a video, posted on social media in October 2023, of the mothers and wives of the men killed in his unit talking about their losses.
"Our men are being massacred"
One woman is heard saying: “Our men were ordered to advance with only handguns and shovels.” Another says: “These losses are terrible. Our men are being massacred.”
Those who are not killed for refusing storms often face horrific and inhumane consequences, Ilya said.
He also showed a video of men from his unit in Panteleimonivka in Donetsk.
"Let's feed the animals," a man said, before opening a lid to reveal three men thrown into a pit.
"Oh, are you hungry? Do you want to eat?" the man filming them is heard saying, before one of the buried men raises his head and hands. Then some dry grains are thrown at them. "Look how they're eating," the man then says in the video, as the men in the pit begin to eat the grains.
Some men starved for food for days and faced electric shocks, Ilya said, before being sent unarmed through "meat storms."
He was also personally tortured because he refused to participate in such a mission.
"They tied me to a tree, beat me with a rubber baton, and put a gun to my head. I don't know how to put it, I served as a toilet. The commander told everyone, 'We have a new toilet.' I was tied for half a day."
After being elected, Ilya attempted to take his own life.
Dennis, who says he once secretly sent food and water to soldiers in the trenches, showed a video of an accused deserter being urinated on by soldiers. The BBC has not verified the video.
"It's illegal, but no one is punished"
"It was a humiliation of human honor and dignity. In the Russian army, this became the norm," he said. "It's illegal, but no one is punished. On the contrary, they are even encouraged to do it."
27-year-old Denis also shows a photo he says was taken right after two of his teeth were knocked out by one of the supervisors because he told them he didn't want to go looking for a drone.
"It was horrible. I just had to keep going."
Dima was once promoted, even though he said he didn't want to become an officer. He showed a photo of the appointment ceremony. After his promotion, he decided not to lead soldiers into the storm.
"I refused to do that. I didn't have to go myself, but I refused to give the order."
This led to his arrest by military police who took him to a makeshift prison.
"They tortured me with electric shocks there," he recalled. He was tortured for 72 consecutive days.
"Just torture, every day. No emotions. It was madness," he said.
All the men who spoke to the BBC are outside Russia. However, the horrors are still fresh in their minds.
"I have constant dreams. I see a mountain full of dead bodies, people beaten, faces covered in blood. That smell... it's not a smell, it's a taste," Dima said. "I'm a criminal and no one notices it - my crime is that I don't want to commit murder."
"In the Russian army, there are many men who don't need this war, who hate the commanders, who hate Putin, who hate our system, and they want to destroy us."
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Ilya said he loves his country, "but not what Putin has done to it."
"They can destroy anyone there, and it doesn't matter if you're strong or not. They almost destroyed me, but not completely."
