Our reporter Nicolas Delesalle collected the testimony of a Russian soldier injured in the legs and taken to a Ukrainian military hospital. Here it is in full.
“My name is Arcadi. I’m 21. I am from Olanda corps 38846. I am a driver. We arrived in Belarus at Rechnitsa. On the evening of February 23, we were told to follow the columns without telling us that we were going to Ukraine. We knew we were in Ukraine when we saw the Chernobyl sign. We asked the commander: “What are we doing in Ukraine? We have to retrace our steps.” He replied that there was no way back because we were surrounded. To return to Belarus, it would only have taken 5 to 6 hours… Afterwards we wanted to flee, we were very scared, we are not soldiers but drivers and in our contract it is not stipulated that we must kill and shoot.
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In Sobatchi, we spent a night then another night further on and in a small village without a sign, we came under fire and I fainted. We have been deceived. We didn’t even know we would have to fight. We were just told to follow the convoy. War, no one wants it. You shouldn’t do it, it’s too scary. We could not desert. We tried to talk to the commander but it didn’t work. We were ten cars, I was the last, I don’t know what happened to the others.
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