A Russian Officer Surrendered To The Ukrainian National Guard And Has Asked To Serve In The Main Intelligence Directorate
- 20.09.2026, 11:20
- 1,926
He does not want to return to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange.
A 28-year-old second lieutenant in the Russian Armed Forces voluntarily surrendered to the “Spartan” Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard. He was prompted to do so by a video featuring two 19-year-old compatriots who were already in captivity. This was reported on the brigade’s Facebook page, where they also posted a video.
As Ivan explained, he is originally from the Kemerovo Region. He signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2024, he said, because of arguments with his parents. In the army, he commanded a platoon. His training lasted only two weeks. He didn’t even make it to his assigned position because he was wounded.
He was later awarded the “For Courage” medal for this.
After recovering, he deserted the army and went into hiding until 2026. In March, according to the Russian man, the police detained him and sent him back to the war against Ukraine. This time, he was in charge of new infantry recruits: he briefed them and sent them to the front lines. From what he observed, almost none of them had proper military training.
“Their longest military training lasted three days. The ones I met told me they were sent on missions after just one day at the training ground. They’re not trained—they don’t know how to use radios or maps,” the prisoner of war said.
The officer cites a chronic shortage of personnel as the main reason. Recruits are thrown into battle without any proper training at all. According to him, the occupiers often die right in the middle of filming staged reports, when they try to unfurl Russian flags at positions they haven’t yet taken control of. Moreover, as Ivan notes, most of these assault troops end up on the front lines because they were deceived—during recruitment, they’re promised rear-area positions that don’t involve combat.
“At a training ground, a Russian soldier can survive for up to five days at most; on the front lines—anywhere from five minutes to an hour. The luckiest ones might survive a day on the way to their position, but they’ll die there anyway,” the occupier said.
Later in the video, the captive recounts how he stumbled upon a “Spartan” video. In it, Russian soldiers showed that they had surrendered with the help of blogger Vladimir Zolkin. Ivan decided to follow the same path and also wrote to Zolkin. It turns out he knows the guys from the video personally.
“If I’d known they were planning to surrender, I would have gone with them, but they didn’t say anything,” the Russian emphasized.
He does not want to return to Russia as part of a prisoner-of-war exchange. Instead, he stated that he aims to join the Russian Volunteer Corps of the Main Intelligence Directorate.
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