"Stupidest Decision Our Gov't Ever Made," Phone Calls From Russian Troops Disgusted With War and Putin

Thousands of intercepted calls made by Russian soldiers in Ukraine and obtained by the New York Times (NYT) newspaper appear to reveal new evidence of widespread atrocities committed by Moscow’s forces and anger within their ranks over President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade.

The calls, exposed in a new report published on Thursday, were made in March by dozens of troops stationed in and around the town of Bucha on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.

“Mom, this war is the stupidest decision our government ever made, I think,” the NYT quoted one soldier named Sergey as telling his mother.

Using 22 shared phones, the troops called hundreds of phone numbers in Russia over a period of several weeks, dialling home to wives, relatives and friends, despite having been ordered not to do so.

Their conversations, initially intercepted by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies before being passed on to the newspaper, shed new light on the disarray of the early stages of Russia’s offensive, and reference civilian killings that may amount to proof of war crimes.

[link to www.aljazeera.com (secure)]