apnews.com Open in urlscan Pro
34.96.72.156  Public Scan

Form analysis
2 forms found in the DOM

<form class="headerForm-0-2-4 headerNavigationForm-0-2-3 -forDesktop" novalidate="">
  <div style="display: none;">
    <div id="" class="g-recaptcha">
      <div style="width: 304px; height: 78px;">
        <div><iframe title="reCAPTCHA"
            src="https://recaptcha.net/recaptcha/api2/anchor?ar=1&amp;k=6LcUNQcjAAAAAIu8-hEKGDr7xxKi3O4yU0oKtl_7&amp;co=aHR0cHM6Ly9hcG5ld3MuY29tOjQ0Mw..&amp;hl=de&amp;v=Nh10qRQB5k2ucc5SCBLAQ4nA&amp;theme=light&amp;size=normal&amp;cb=991byw9gwp9i"
            width="304" height="78" role="presentation" name="a-dgt1ht4mclin" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-modals allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"></iframe>
        </div><textarea id="g-recaptcha-response" name="g-recaptcha-response" class="g-recaptcha-response"
          style="width: 250px; height: 40px; border: 1px solid rgb(193, 193, 193); margin: 10px 25px; padding: 0px; resize: none; display: none;"></textarea>
      </div><iframe style="display: none;"></iframe>
    </div>
  </div>
  <div style="display: block; width: max-content;"><label for="email">Email:</label><svg class="SvgSprite">
      <use xlink:href="/dist/spritemap.svg#sprite-share-email-borderless"></use>
    </svg><input type="text" name="email" class="news-letter-input" value="Get AP News stories every morning"><button class="news-letter-button">Go</button></div>
</form>

<form id="adl-user-report-form" novalidate="">
  <div style="padding:0; margin: 0 0 0;">
    <div style="width:100%;display:none;height: 35px;line-height:35px;font-size:13px;padding:0 12px;color:white;background-color:#FF3860;border-radius:2px;margin-bottom:10px; " id="adl-category-error">Please make a selection.</div>
    <label style="display: block;line-height: 0; font-size: 16px; margin: 15px 0 15px;">
      <input style="margin:0 8px 0 0;vertical-align: middle;transform: translateY(-0.15em);-webkit-appearance: radio;box-sizing: border-box;" type="radio" name="category" value="Plays Sound" required=""> Plays sound </label>
    <label style="display: block;line-height: 0; font-size: 16px; margin: 15px 0 15px;">
      <input style="margin:0 8px 0 0;vertical-align: middle;transform: translateY(-0.15em);-webkit-appearance: radio;box-sizing: border-box;" type="radio" name="category" value="Adult Content" required=""> Contains adult content </label>
    <label style="display: block;line-height: 0; font-size: 16px; margin: 15px 0 15px;">
      <input style="margin:0 8px 0 0;vertical-align: middle;transform: translateY(-0.15em);-webkit-appearance: radio;box-sizing: border-box;" type="radio" name="category" value="Covers the Page" required=""> Covers the page </label>
    <label style="display: block;line-height: 0; font-size: 16px; margin: 15px 0 15px;">
      <input style="margin:0 8px 0 0;vertical-align: middle;transform: translateY(-0.15em);-webkit-appearance: radio;box-sizing: border-box;" type="radio" name="category" value="Other" required=""> Other </label>
    <h2 style="font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;color:rgb(58,58,58);text-align:left;margin:25px 0 15px;">Additional Information</h2>
    <div style="width:100%;display:none;height: 35px;line-height:35px;font-size:13px;padding:0 12px;color:white;background-color:#FF3860;border-radius:2px;margin-bottom:10px; " id="adl-text-minlen-error">Please help us by describing the ad.</div>
    <div style="width:100%;display:none;height: 35px;line-height:35px;font-size:13px;padding:0 12px;color:white;background-color:#FF3860;border-radius:2px;margin-bottom:10px; " id="adl-text-maxlen-error">Only 500 characters are allowed.</div>
    <textarea id="adl-user-feedback" style="box-sizing:border-box;resize: none; margin:0;width:100%;font-size:14px;line-height:18px;height:100px;border:1px solid #B0B0B0;padding:11px 15px;border-radius:2px;" minlength="3" maxlength="500"
      placeholder="What does the ad say, who is the advertiser, what does the ad look like?" name="user_feedback"></textarea>
  </div>
  <button type="button"
    style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;margin: 20px auto 0;width:200px;cursor:pointer;background-color:#7c6bf7;display:block;color:#fff;border-radius:2px;border:none;padding:15px 40px;font-weight:700;text-align:center;box-sizing:border-box;font-size:16px;"
    id="adl-report-ad-modal__submit-button">Report ad</button>
</form>

Text Content

Enable accessibility
AP NEWS

Email:Go
Listen

Sections
 * U.S. News
 * World News
 * Politics
 * Sports
 * Entertainment
 * Business
 * Technology
 * Health
 * Science
 * Oddities
 * Lifestyle
 * Photography
 * Videos

Listen
AP RADIO
Update hourly


Sections
 1.  AP Top News
 2.  U.S. News
 3.  World NewsAfricaAsia PacificAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle East
 4.  PoliticsPresident BidenElection coverageCongressSupreme Court
 5.  SportsNBASuper BowlCollege basketballNHLMLBTennis
 6.  EntertainmentFilm reviewsMoviesMusicTelevisionFashion
 7.  BusinessU.S. economyFinancial markets

     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 8.  Videos
 9.  Technology
 10. HealthCOVID-19
 11. MoreAP InvestigationsClimate and
     environmentOdditiesPhotographyTravelScienceAP Fact
     CheckLifestyleReligionPress Releases

 * Oklahoma tornadoes
 * Dilbert racist remarks
 * 'Everything' dominates SAGs

Search





'NEVER SAW SUCH HELL': RUSSIAN SOLDIERS IN UKRAINE CALL HOME



By ERIKA KINETZ
February 24, 2023
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-intercepts-2b14732d88b3f58d4a9d0b2b562bdb28

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — One Russian soldier tells his mother that the young
Ukrainians dead from his first firefight looked just like him. Another explains
to his wife that he’s drunk because alcohol makes it easier to kill civilians. A
third wants his girlfriend to know that in all the horror, he dreams about just
being with her.

About 2,000 secret recordings of intercepted conversations between Russian
soldiers in Ukraine and their loved ones back home offer a harrowing new
perspective on Vladimir Putin’s year-old war. There is a human mystery at the
heart of these conversations heard in intercepted phone calls: How do people
raised with a sense of right and wrong end up accepting and perpetrating
terrible acts of violence?

The AP identified calls made in March 2022 by soldiers in a military division
that Ukrainian prosecutors say committed war crimes in Bucha, a town outside
Kyiv that became an early symbol of Russian atrocities.

They show how deeply unprepared young soldiers — and their country — were for
the war to come. Many joined the military because they needed money and were
informed of their deployment at the last minute. They were told they’d be
welcomed as heroes for liberating Ukraine from its Nazi oppressors and their
Western backers, and that Kyiv would fall without bloodshed within a week.

The intercepts also show that as soldiers realized how much they’d been misled,
they grew more and more afraid. Violence that once would have been unthinkable
became normal. Looting and drinking offered moments of rare reprieve. Some said
they were following orders to kill civilians or prisoners of war.

Full Coverage: Russia-Ukraine: A Year of War

They tell their mothers what this war actually looks like: About the teenage
Ukrainian boy who got his ears cut off. How the scariest sound is not the
whistle of a rocket flying past, but the silence that means it’s coming directly
for you. How modern weapons can obliterate the human body so there’s nothing
left to bring home.

We listen as their mothers struggle to reconcile their pride and their horror,
and as their wives and fathers beg them not to drink too much and to please,
please call home.

These are the stories of three of those men — Ivan, Leonid and Maxim. The AP
isn’t using their full names to protect their families in Russia. The AP
established that they were in areas when atrocities were committed, but has no
evidence of their individual actions beyond what they confess.

The AP spoke with the mothers of Ivan and Leonid, but couldn’t reach Maxim or
his family. The AP verified these calls with the help of the Dossier Center, an
investigative group in London funded by Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
The conversations have been edited for length and clarity.

___

In a joint production on Saturday, Feb. 25, The Associated Press and Reveal from
the Center for Investigative Reporting will broadcast never-before-heard audio
of Russian soldiers as they confront — and perpetrate — the brutality of
Russia’s war in Ukraine.

___


LEONID

Leonid became a soldier because he needed money. He was in debt and didn’t want
to depend on his parents.

“I just wasn’t prepared emotionally for my child to go to war at the age of 19,”
his mother told the AP in January. “None of us had experienced anything like
this, that your child would live in a time when he has to go and fight.”

Leonid’s mother said Russia needs to protect itself from its enemies. But, like
many others, she expected Russia to take parts of eastern Ukraine quickly.
Instead, Leonid’s unit got stuck around Bucha.

“No one thought it would be so terrible,” his mother said. “My son just said one
thing: ‘My conscience is clear. They opened fire first.’ That’s all.”

ADVERTISEMENT


In the calls, there is an obvious moral dissonance between the way Leonid’s
mother raised him and what he is seeing and doing in Ukraine. Still, she
defended her son, insisting he never even came into contact with civilians in
Ukraine.

She said everything was calm, civil. There was no trouble at the checkpoints.
Nothing bad happened. The war didn’t change her son.

She declined to listen to any of the intercepts: “This is absurd,” she said.
“Just don’t try to make it look like my child killed innocent people.”

___


ONE: KILL IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE KILLED.

Leonid’s introduction to war came on Feb. 24, as his unit crossed into Ukraine
from Belarus and decimated a detachment of Ukrainians at the border. After his
first fight, Leonid seems to have compassion for the young Ukrainian soldiers
they’d just killed.


MOTHER: “WHEN DID YOU GET SCARED?”

Leonid: “When our commander warned us we would be shot, 100%. He warned us that
although we’d be bombed and shot at, our aim was to get through.”


MOTHER: “DID THEY SHOOT YOU?”

Leonid: “Of course. We defeated them.”

Mother: “Mhm. Did you shoot from your tanks?”

Leonid: “Yeah, we did. We shot from the tanks, machine guns and rifles. We had
no losses. We destroyed their four tanks. There were dead bodies lying around
and burning. So, we won.”

Mother: “Oh what a nightmare! Lyonka, you wanted to live at that moment, right
honey?”

Leonid: “More than ever!”

Mother: “More than ever, right honey?”


LEONID: “OF COURSE.”

Mother: “It’s totally horrible.”

Leonid: “They were lying there, just 18 or 19 years old. Am I different from
them? No, I’m not.”

___


TWO: THE RULES OF NORMAL LIFE NO LONGER APPLY.

Leonid tells his mother their plan was to seize Kyiv within a week, without
firing a single bullet. Instead, his unit started taking fire near Chernobyl.
They had no maps and the Ukrainians had taken down all the road signs.

“It was so confusing,” he says. “They were well prepared.”

Not expecting a prolonged attack, Russian soldiers ran short on basic supplies.
One way for them to get what they needed — or wanted — was to steal.

Many soldiers, including Leonid, talk about money with the wary precision that
comes from not having enough. Some take orders from friends and family for
certain-sized shoes and parts for specific cars, proud to go home with something
to give.



When Leonid tells his mother casually about looting, at first she can’t believe
he’s stealing. But it’s become normal for him.

As he speaks, he watches a town burn on the horizon.

“Such a beauty,” he says.

Leonid: “Look, mom, I’m looking at tons of houses — I don’t know, dozens,
hundreds — and they’re all empty. Everyone ran away.”

Mother: “So all the people left, right? You guys aren’t looting them, are you?
You’re not going into other people’s houses?”


LEONID: “OF COURSE WE ARE, MOM. ARE YOU CRAZY?”

Mother: “Oh, you are. What do you take from there?”

Leonid: “We take food, bed linen, pillows. Blankets, forks, spoons, pans.”

Mother: (laughing) “You gotta be kidding me.”

Leonid: “Whoever doesn’t have any — socks, clean underwear, T-shirts, sweaters.”

Reveal · Listening in on Russia’s War in Ukraine

___


THREE: THE ENEMY IS EVERYBODY.

Leonid tells his mother about the terror of going on patrol and not knowing what
or who they will encounter. He describes using lethal force at the slightest
provocation against just about anyone.

At first, she seems not to believe that Russian soldiers could be killing
civilians.

Leonid tells her that civilians were told to flee or shelter in basements, so
anyone who was outside must not be a real civilian. Russian soldiers had been
told, by Putin and others, that they’d be greeted as liberators and anyone who
resisted was a fascist, an insurgent — not a real civilian.

This was a whole-of-society war. Mercy was for suckers.

Mother: “Oh Lyonka, you’ve seen so much stuff there!”

Leonid: “Well ... civilians are lying around right on the street with their
brains coming out.”

Mother: “Oh God, you mean the locals?”

Leonid: “Yep. Well, like, yeah.”

Mother: “Are they the ones you guys shot or the ones ... ”

Leonid: “The ones killed by our army.”

Mother: “Lyonya, they might just be peaceful people.”

Leonid: “Mom, there was a battle. And a guy would just pop up, you know? Maybe
he would pull out a grenade launcher ... Or we had a case, a young guy was
stopped, they took his cellphone. He had all this information about us in his
Telegram messages — where to bomb, how many we were, how many tanks we have. And
that’s it.”

ADVERTISEMENT


Mother: “So they knew everything?”

Leonid: “He was shot right there on the spot.”

Mother: “Mhm.”

Leonid: “He was 17 years old. And that’s it, right there.”


MOTHER: “MHM.”

Leonid: “There was a prisoner. It was an 18-year-old guy. First, he was shot in
his leg. Then his ears were cut off. After that, he admitted everything, and
they killed him.”

Mother: “Did he admit it?”

Leonid: “We don’t imprison them. I mean, we kill them all.”


MOTHER: “MHM.”

___


FOUR: WHAT IT TAKES TO GET HOME ALIVE.

Leonid tells his mother he was nearly killed five times. Things are so
disorganized, he says, that it’s not uncommon for Russians to fire on their own
troops — it even happened to him. Some soldiers shoot themselves just to get
medical leave, he says.

In another call, he tells his girlfriend he’s envious of his buddies who got
shot in the feet and could go home. “A bullet in your foot is like four months
at home with crutches,” he says. “It would be awesome.”

Then he hangs up because of incoming fire.

Mother: “Hello, Lyonechka.”

Leonid: “I just wanted to call you again. I am able to speak.”

Mother: “Oh, that’s good.”

Leonid: “There are people out here who shoot themselves.”


MOTHER: “MHM.”

Leonid: “They do it for the insurance money. You know where they shoot
themselves?”

Mother: “That’s silly, Lyonya.”

Leonid: “The bottom part of the left thigh.”

Mother: “It’s bull——, Lyonya. They’re crazy, you know that, right?”

Leonid: “Some people are so scared that they are ready to harm themselves just
to leave.”

Mother: “Yeah, it is fear, what can you say here, it’s human fear. Everybody
wants to live. I don’t argue with that, but please don’t do that. We all pray
for you. You should cross yourself any chance you get, just turn away from
everyone and do it. We all pray for you. We’re all worried.”

Leonid: “I’m standing here, and you know what the situation is? I am now 30
meters (100 feet) away from a huge cemetery.” (giggling)

Mother: “Oh, that’s horrible ... may it be over soon.”

Leonid says he had to learn to empty his mind.

“Imagine, it’s nighttime. You’re sitting in the dark and it’s quiet out there.
Alone with your thoughts. And day after day, you sit there alone with those
thoughts,” he tells his girlfriend. “I already learned to think of nothing while
sitting outside.

Leonid speaks with his mother.

He promises to bring home a collection of bullets for the kids. “Trophies from
Ukraine,” he calls them.

His mother says she’s waiting for him.

“Of course I’ll come, why wouldn’t I?” Leonid says.

“Of course, you’ll come,” his mother says. “No doubts. You’re my beloved. Of
course, you’ll come. You are my happiness.”

Leonid returned to Russia in May, badly wounded, but alive. He told his mother
Russia would win this war.

___


IVAN

Ivan dreamed of being a paratrooper from the time he was a boy, growing up in a
village at the edge of Siberia. He used to dress up in fatigues and play
paintball with friends in the woods. A photo shows him at 12 years old, smiling
with a big Airsoft rifle and a slimy splotch of green near his heart — a sign of
certain death in paintball.

Ivan’s dream came true. He entered an elite unit of Russian paratroopers, which
crossed into Ukraine the very first day of Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion, one year
ago.

___


ONE: IVAN’S ROAD TO WAR.

Ivan was in Belarus on training when they got a Telegram message: “Tomorrow you
are leaving for Ukraine. There is a genocide of the Russian population. And we
have to stop it.”

When his mother found out he was in Ukraine, she said she stopped speaking for
days and took sedatives. Her hair went gray. Still, she was proud of him.


IVAN ENDED UP IN BUCHA.


IVAN: “MOM, HI.”



Mother: “Hi, son! How …”


IVAN: “HOW ARE YOU?”

Mother: “Vanya, I understand they might be listening so I’m afraid …”


IVAN: “DOESN’T MATTER.”

Mother: “… to ask where you are, what’s happening. Where are you?”


IVAN: “IN BUCHA.”


MOTHER: “IN BUCHA?”


IVAN: “IN BUCHA.”

Mother: “Son, be as careful as you can, OK? Don’t go charging around! Always
keep a cool head.”


IVAN: “OH, COME ON, I‘M NOT CHARGING AROUND.”

Mother: “Yeah, right! And yesterday you told me how you’re gonna f——— kill
everyone out there.” (laughs)


IVAN: “WE WILL KILL IF WE HAVE TO.”

Mother: “Huh?”


IVAN: “IF WE HAVE TO — WE HAVE TO.”

Mother: “I understand you. I’m so proud of you, my son! I don’t even know how to
put it. I love you so much. And I bless you for everything, everything! I wish
you success in everything. And I’ll wait for you no matter what.”

___


TWO: LOVE AND FEAR.

Russian soldiers had been told by Putin and others that they’d be welcomed by
their brothers and sisters in Ukraine as liberators. Instead, Ivan finds that
most Ukrainians want him dead or gone. His mood darkens.

He calls his girlfriend, Olya, and tells her he had a dream about her.

Ivan: “F—-, you know, it’s driving me crazy here. It’s just that ... You were
just … I felt you, touched you with my hand. I don’t understand how it’s
possible, why, where … But I really felt you. I don’t know, I felt something
warm, something dear. It’s like something was on fire in my hands, so warm … And
that’s it. I don’t know. I was sleeping and then I woke up with all these
thoughts. War … You know, when you’re sleeping — and then you’re like … War …
Where, where is it? It was just dark in the house, so dark. And I went outside,
walked around the streets, and thought: damn, f—- it. And that’s it. I really
want to come see you.”

ADVERTISEMENT



OLYA: “I AM WAITING FOR YOU.”

Ivan: “Waiting? OK. I’m waiting, too. Waiting for the time I can come see you
... Let’s make a deal. When we see each other, let’s spend the entire day
together. Laying around, sitting together, eating, looking at each other — just
us, together.”

Olya: (Laughs) “Agreed.”

Ivan: “Together all the time. Hugging, cuddling, kissing … Together all the
time, not letting each other go.”


OLYA: “WELL, YEAH!”

Ivan: “You can go f——— crazy here. It’s so f—- up, the s—- that’s happening. I
really thought it would be easy here, to tell you the truth. That it’s just
gonna be easy to talk, think about it. But it turned out to be hard, you need to
think with your head all the time. So that’s that.”

Ivan: “We are really at the front line. As far out as you could be. Kyiv is 15
kilometers (about 10 miles) from us. It is scary, Olya. It really is scary.”


OLYA: “HELLO?”


IVAN: “DO YOU HEAR ME?”


THE LINE DROPS.

___


THREE: THE END.

As things get worse for Ivan in Ukraine, his mother’s patriotism deepens and her
rage grows. The family has relatives in Kyiv, but seems to believe this is a
righteous war against Nazi oppression in Ukraine — and the dark hand of the
United States they see behind Kyiv’s tough resistance. She says she’ll go to
Ukraine herself to fight.

Mother: “Do you have any predictions about the end ...?”

Ivan: “We are here for the time being. We’ll probably stay until they clean up
the whole of Ukraine. Maybe they’ll pull us out. Maybe not. We’re going for
Kyiv.”

Mother: “What are they going to do?”

Ivan: “We’re not going anywhere until they clean up all of these pests.”

Mother: “Are those bastards getting cleaned up?”

Ivan: “Yes, they are. But they’ve been waiting for us and preparing, you
understand? Preparing properly. American motherf——— have been helping them out.”

Mother: “F——— f———. F——— kill them all. You have my blessing.”

Ivan speaks with his mother.

Death came for Ivan a decade after that boyhood paintball game.

In July, a local paper published a notice of his funeral with a photo of him,
again in fatigues holding a large rifle. Ivan died heroically in Russia’s
“special military operation,” the announcement said. We will never forget you.
All of Russia shares this grief.

Reached by the AP in January, Ivan’s mother at first denied she’d ever talked
with her son from the front. But she agreed to listen to some of the intercepted
audio and confirmed it was her speaking with Ivan.

“He wasn’t involved in murders, let alone in looting,” she told the AP before
hanging up the phone.

Ivan was her only son.

___


MAXIM

Maxim is drunk in some of the calls, slurring his words, because life at the
front line is more than he can take sober.

It’s not clear what military unit Maxim is in, but he makes calls from the same
phone as Ivan, on the same days.

He says they’re alone out there and exposed. Communications are so bad they’re
taking more fire from their own troops than from the Ukrainians.

He has a bad toothache and his feet are freezing. The hunt for locals — men,
women and children —who might be informing on them to the Ukrainian military is
constant.

Maxim’s mood flips between boredom and horror — not just at what he has seen,
but also what he has done.

___


ONE: GOLD!

The only reason Maxim is able to speak with his family back in Russia is because
they’ve been stealing phones from locals. He says they’re even shaking down
kids.

“We take everything from them,” he explains to his wife. “Because they can also
be f——— spotters.”

Stuck just outside Kyiv, bored and unsure why they’re in Ukraine in the first
place, Maxim and a half-dozen other guys shot up a shopping mall and made off
with all the gold they could carry.

Back home Maxim has money troubles, but here his hands are heavy with treasure.
He gleefully calculates and recalculates what his pile of gold might be
worth. He says he offered a wad of money the size of his fist to Ukrainian women
and children.

“I wanted to give it to normal families with kids, but the people out there were
drunks,” he tells his wife.



In the end, he handed the cash off to a random, cleanshaven man he thought
looked decent. “I told him: ‘Look here, take it, give it to families with kids
and take something for yourself. You’ll figure it out, make it fair.’”

On calls home, the high sweet voice of Maxim’s own young child bubbles in the
background as he talks with his wife.

Maxim: “Do you know how much a gram of gold costs here?”


WIFE: “NO.”

Maxim: “Roughly? About two or three thousand rubles, right?”

Wife: “Well, yeah …”

Maxim: “Well, I have 1½ kilograms (more than three pounds). With labels even.”

Wife: “Holy f—-, are we looters?!”

Maxim: “With labels, yeah. It’s just that we f——- up this … We were shooting at
this shopping mall from a tank. Then we go in, and there’s a f——— jewelry store.
Everything was taken. But there was a safe there. We cracked it open, and inside
… f—- me! So the seven of us loaded up.”


WIFE: “I SEE.”

Maxim: “They had these f——— necklaces, you know. In our money, they’re like
30-40,000 a piece, 60,000 a piece.”


WIFE: “HOLY CRAP.”

Maxim: “I scored about a kilo and a half of necklaces, charms, bracelets ...
these … earrings ... earrings with rings …”

Wife: “That’s enough, don’t tell me.”

Maxim: “Anyway, I counted and if it’s 3,000 rubles a gram, then I have about 3.5
million. If you offload it.”

Wife: “Got it. How’s the situation there?”

Maxim: “It’s f——— OK.”

Wife: “OK? Got it.”

Maxim: “We don’t have a f——— thing to do, so we go around and loot the f———
shopping mall.”

Wife: “Just be careful, in the name of Christ.”

___


TWO: PROPAGANDA.

Maxim and his mother discuss the opposing stories about the war being told on
Ukrainian and Russian television. They blame the United States and recite
conspiracy theories pushed by Russian state media.

But Maxim and his mother believe it’s the Ukrainians who are deluded by fake
news and propaganda, not them. The best way to end the war, his mother says, is
to kill the presidents of Ukraine and the United States.

Later, Maxim tells his mother that thousands of Russian troops died in the first
weeks of war — so many that there’s no time to do anything except haul away the
bodies. That’s not what they’re saying on Russian TV, his mother says.

ADVERTISEMENT


Maxim: “Here, it’s all American. All the weapons.”

Mother: “It’s the Americans driving this, of course! Look at their laboratories.
They are developing biological weapons. Coronavirus literally started there.”

Maxim: “Yeah, I also saw somewhere that they used bats.”

Mother: “All of it. Bats, migrating birds, and even coronavirus might be their
biological weapon.”

Mother: “They even found all these papers with signatures from the U.S. all over
Ukraine. Biden’s son is the mastermind behind all of this.”

Mother: “When will it end? When they stop supplying weapons.”


MAXIM: “MHM.”

Mother: “Until they catch (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy and execute
him, nothing will end. He’s a fool, a fool! He’s a puppet for the U.S. and they
really don’t need him, the fool. You watch TV and you feel bad for the people,
the civilians, some travelling with young kids.”

Mother: “If I was given a gun, I’d go and shoot Biden.” (Laughs)

Maxim: (Laughs)

___


THREE: WAR AND PEACE.

The Ukrainian government has been intercepting Russian calls when their phones
ping Ukrainian cell towers, providing important real-time intelligence for the
military. Now, the calls are also potential evidence for war crimes.

But phones have been dangerous for the soldiers in another, more personal sense.
The phone acts as a real-time bridge between two incompatible realities — the
war in Ukraine and home.

In Maxim’s calls with his wife, war and peace collide. Even as she teaches their
daughter the rules of society — scolding the child for throwing things, for
example — Maxim talks about what he’s been stealing. His wife’s world is filled
with school crafts and the sounds of children playing outside. In his, volleys
of gunfire crack the air.

One night last March, Maxim was having trouble keeping it together on a call
with his wife. He’d been drinking, as he did every night.

He told her he’d killed civilians — so many he thinks he’s going crazy. He said
he might not make it home alive. He was just sitting there, drunk in the dark,
waiting for the Ukrainian artillery strikes to start.


WIFE: “WHY? WHY ARE YOU DRINKING?”

Maxim: “Everyone is like that here. It’s impossible without it here.”

Wife: “How the f—- will you protect yourself if you are tipsy?”

Maxim: “Totally normal. On the contrary, it’s easier to shoot ... civilians.
Let’s not talk about this. I’ll come back and tell you how it is here and why we
drink!”

Wife: “Please, just be careful!”

Maxim: “Everything will be fine. Honestly, I’m scared s—-less myself. I never
saw such hell as here. I am f——— shocked.”

Wife: “Why the f—- did you go there?”

Minutes later, he’s on the phone with his child.

“You’re coming back,” the child says.

“Of course,” Maxim says.

Maxim speaks with his child.

___


FOUR: THE END?

In their last intercepted call, Maxim’s wife seems to have a premonition.

Wife: “Is everything all right?”


MAXIM: “YEAH. WHY?”

Wife: “Be honest with me, is everything all right?”


MAXIM: “HUH? WHY DO YOU ASK?”

Wife: “It’s nothing, I just can’t sleep at night.”

Maxim is a little breathless. He and his unit are getting ready to go. His wife
asks him where they’re going.

“Forward,” he tells her. “I won’t be able to call for a while.”

The AP has been unable to determine what happened to Maxim.

___

Solomiia Hera and Anna Pavlova contributed to this report.

ADVERTISEMENT


___

Follow the AP’s coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine at
https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    
by Taboola by Taboola 
You May Like

CIA chief: China has some doubt on ability to invade Taiwan


Undo

GEERSAd Content

Promoted Weilerswist: GEERS sucht 700 Testhörer vor 1972 geborenGEERS:
Promoted Promoted 


Undo

Serbia, Kosovo leaders weigh EU proposals to improve ties


Undo

North Korea holds rare meeting on farming amid food shortage


Undo

Putin: will ‘take into account’ NATO’s nuclear capability


Undo


' ' '
' ' '



Ad Content
Wenn Sie über 40 sind, ist dieses Strategy-Spiel ein Muss! Kein Download
nötig!Promoted: Goodgame Empire
Promoted: Goodgame Empire



Undo
"Der Kredit für Senioren": Lohnt sich der Teilverkauf?Promoted: Immo-Portal
Promoted: Immo-Portal



Undo

Honestly, we’ve got some unfinished businessPromoted: Siemens Energy
Promoted: Siemens Energy



Undo
Solar-Boom 2023: Staat gibt jetzt unfassbaren AnreizPromoted: Vergleich Profis24
Promoted: Vergleich Profis24



Undo


Ad Content
Promoted: Siemens Energy

Honestly, we’ve got some unfinished business. All of us.Promoted: Siemens
EnergyLearn More


Undo
Promoted: Enpal

Weilerswist: Solarfirma bietet in 2023 unglaubliches SolarkomplettpaketPromoted:
Enpal


Undo
Promoted: XCraft


Betreiben Sie Ihr eigenes WeltraumimperiumPromoted: XCraft


Undo

Belarus leader and Putin ally Lukashenko to visit ChinaBEIJING (AP) — Alexander
Lukashenko, the president of Belarus and a close ally of the Russian
leader,yesterday



Undo
Sponsored LinksSponsored Links
Promoted LinksPromoted Links



AP NEWS
 1. Top Stories
 2. Video
 3. Contact Us
 4. Accessibility Statement
 5. Cookie Settings

Download AP NEWS
Connect with the definitive source for global and local news

More from AP
 1. ap.org
 2. AP Insights
 3. AP Definitive Source Blog
 4. AP Images Spotlight
 5. AP Explore
 6. AP Books
 7. AP Stylebook

Follow AP
 1. 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 


The Associated Press
 1. About
 2. Contact
 3. Customer Support
 4. Careers
 5. Terms & Conditions
 6. Privacy

All contents © copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


PRIVACY PREFERENCE CENTER

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your
browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you,
your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you
expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can
give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to
privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the
different category headings to find out more and change our default settings.
However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site
and the services we are able to offer.
More information
Allow All


MANAGE CONSENT PREFERENCES

STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES

Always Active

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched
off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you
which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy
preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block
or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

PERFORMANCE COOKIES

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and
improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the
most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All
information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you
do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and
will not be able to monitor its performance.

FUNCTIONAL COOKIES

Functional Cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and
personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose
services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some
or all of these services may not function properly.

TARGETING COOKIES

Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may
be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you
relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal
information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet
device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted
advertising.


BACK BUTTON PERFORMANCE COOKIES



Vendor Search Search Icon
Filter Icon

Clear
checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
checkbox label label
checkbox label label
checkbox label label

Confirm My Choices


We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features
and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site
with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Privacy Policy

Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies




WHY ARE YOU REPORTING THIS AD?

Please make a selection.
Plays sound Contains adult content Covers the page Other


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Please help us by describing the ad.
Only 500 characters are allowed.
Report ad

Thank you for letting us know.

Powered by
×