Ukrainian servicemen walk on a street as they come back from the trenches of Bakhmut in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine. Photo / AP
An audibly sheepish Russian soldier near Kherson is heard down the line after a softly spoken woman says in fluent Russian: “Hello. Call centre. I’m listening to you.”
“Hello, they gave me your number,” the man says.
“They say you can surrender voluntarily. I’m in the Kherson direction.”
The woman asks: “Have you already been mobilised? Are you already in the military?”
“Yes, I have been mobilised,” the man replies. “Soon we’ll be sent to Kherson.”
“I will ask you to go to Telegram, find the chatbot ‘I want to live’ there. Fill in the information about yourself there,” the woman directs the desperate Russian.
As they battle Russian invaders, military strategists in Ukraine have realised that the best way to win is not only through force but also through psychology.
Ukrainian officials have started the “I Want to Live” hotline to provide disenfranchised members of Vladimir Putin’s heavily conscripted forces with step-by-step information on abandoning the ranks.
Initially run by Ukrainian police, the program has had a ramped-up, military-operated version in place since mid-September.
The hotline and chatbot on the encrypted messaging app Telegram has drawn nearly 10,000 contacts, with more than 13.3 million visits to the programme’s website.
Russian soldiers can provide personal data through the chatbot on Telegram, information Ukrainian authorities use to filter through those who are serious about turning themselves in.
The hotline team has been responsible for delivering callers with unambiguous and succinct guidance, while remaining vigilant of any indications that the communication could be a “probe” orchestrated by Russian intelligence.
The hotline operators are all active-duty service personnel with backgrounds in psychology. They try to “calm them down” and give them detailed instructions on how to safely lay down their weapon and turn themselves in.
“When the Ukrainian military comes to us, do I have to get on my knees? How [do I] surrender?” the Kherson-bound Russian fighter asks the woman on the hotline.
“When you are on the frontline, immediately call us here again,” the woman says.
“But I am not alone. A group of soldiers want to surrender, but they say that in Ukraine, we can be imprisoned for 10 years,” the soldier responds.
“If you voluntarily surrender, you will be registered as captured on the battlefield. All your benefits, all your payments are yours,” the woman reassures the man.
“Is there any guarantee that if I surrender, I will not be filmed, I will not be beaten?” he asks.
“There are people who want to give interviews so that they can be seen in Russia and exchanged as soon as possible,” the woman says.
“You may be in an exchange pool, and you can apply for political asylum in Ukraine, Germany and the Netherlands.”
The Ukrainian military has refused to reveal how many Russian fighters have surrendered via the program.
Vitaly Matvienko, spokesman at the department for prisoners of war, told The Guardian the service received between 50 and 100 calls and Telegram messages each day.
He said interest in the service peaks amid times of heavy fighting, like the Kherson counteroffensive between July and November 2022.
“During the liberation of Kherson, we had calls from Russians and they told us: ‘Just save our souls because we got stuck somewhere in the mud, our battalion is totally crashed, we have 10 soldiers left, please take us from this mess,” he said.
Russians who wish to surrender are instructed to display a white cloth, unload their firearms, aim them downwards and avoid wearing protective gear. They are promised that if they choose to be part of a prisoner exchange, their records will show that they were taken captive rather than surrendered. If surrendering with a tank, the turret must be positioned in the opposite direction, and in a group surrender, the most senior soldier must reveal themselves.
If a surrendering soldier runs out of options for separating themselves from their unit, the hotline offers help.
Ukrainians say they’ve heard from Russian soldiers already on the battlefield who learned of the hotline by word-of-mouth or from a scrawled-on slip of paper passed from hand to hand.
The “I Want to Live” program employs both hi-tech methods and simple communication tools. Russians facing deployment can communicate with the Ukrainian side using the Telegram chatbot, and before leaving for the front, they’re urged to procure and hide a basic flip phone – not a smartphone – and use that to call the hotline.
With the sheer number of troops Russia can throw into the fight, Ukrainian officials believe the program is the best way to reduce those numbers.
It’s estimated Russia has lost nearly 150,000 soldiers since the war began on February 24, 2022, while Ukraine has lost around 100,000.
Six people have now died in a suspected mass methanol poisoning event.