Kremlin-backed vote in Russian-held Ukraine. Video /AP
A Russian soldier has made a stunning admission about the cruel intentions of his country's military forces, providing more evidence that Vladimir Putin's army isn't afraid to commit war crimes - despite denying such actions.
Leaked phone calls made by Russian military members while serving in Ukraine support accusations that Moscow's forces are being ordered to "kill everyone we see", including civilians.
In one intercepted conversation published by The New York Times, a soldier by the name of Sergey confessed to his girlfriend that he was ordered to kill hundreds of civilians in Bucha, about 34 kilometres away from Kyiv.
"They told us that, where we're going, there's a lot of civilians walking around. And they gave us the order to kill everyone we see," he said.
This included orders to execute three men who were unknowingly walking past a Moscow force's storehouse.
"We detained them, undressed them and checked all their clothes. Then a decision had to be made whether to let them go," he said.
"If we let them go, they could give away our position... So it was decided to shoot them."
In a second phone call, another soldier by the name of Aleksandra allegedly told a relative that several bodies were lying on the road with "limbs scattered around".
Russian troops reported that they were losing faith in their leader Vladimir Putin and his opinion of the war. Photo / AP
"They're not ours, they're f***ing civilians," he said.
Meanwhile, others have indicated that they've lost trust in their leader and have since withdrawn their support of Putin's decision to invade. As a result, they're willing to do almost anything to escape the war.
At least 458 people died in and around the suburbs of Bucha after being caught in the crossfire between February 27 and March 12, and then again between March 29 and 31 earlier this year.
Upon investigation, Human Rights Watch researchers who worked in the war-ravaged region between April 4 and 10 allegedly found "extensive evidence" of potential crimes against humanity, including executions, unlawful killings, enforced disappearances and torture.
Richard Weir, crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in an article produced by the organisation that almost every corner in Bucha was a crime scene.
"It felt like death was everywhere," he said. "The evidence indicates that Russian forces occupying Bucha showed contempt and disregard for civilian life and the most fundamental principles of the laws of war."
Members of a special forces unit of the Russian army aim their weapons in action at an unspecified location in Ukraine. Photo / AP
That indication was a sign of a grim truth backed by Sergey and Aleksandra's admissions.
The soldiers' claims are among hundreds of conversations intercepted by Ukraine.
Those making the phone calls did so across 22 shared phones, contacting relatives, wives and friends despite being ordered not to do so.
Now their heartfelt conversations with loved ones could potentially be used as evidence, as Ukraine works to prove that their accusations about Russia are in fact a reality.
The leaked conversations come after reports that earlier in the year Russian troops were deliberately wounding themselves to avoid fighting in the war.
In a tapped phone call released by the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Intelligence Directorate in May, a demoralised soldier admitted to his mother that previously patriotic military personnel were going to extreme measures to escape combat.
"I had a commander who shot himself in the leg just to get out of here. And that was in the very beginning," the 20-year-old air assault trooper, serving in the Kherson region, said.
Meanwhile, another call allegedly recorded a wife telling her serving husband to "fall off a tank or something" in a desperate bid to return home.
"I don't f***ing know! Because you'd be able to go home straight from the hospital... There's no other way out," she said.
A third phone call between a Russian paratrooper and his mother revealed the country's military was being rapidly decimated.
"Our people are just disappearing on their own," he said. "Some of them vanished without a trace. Some were taken prisoner. Some are hiding. Some are already in Russia."
Since March, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claims to have killed or injured more than 45,000 members of the Russian forces, with the most deaths occurring in the eastern Donetsk and southern Mykolaiv regions.
Now, Russians in the reserves and those who have previously served are to be conscripted "to protect the motherland" after Putin announced a partial mobilisation on September 21.
However, Russia's plan to conscript reserve members hasn't come without its challenges as non-eligible men have mistakenly been called forward, angering Russians.
