Originally published at: Amazing video of Russian soldier surrendering to drone in Ukraine | Boing Boing
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If anyone has read Neal Stephenson’s newest novel Termination Shock, this sort of scene happens several times in it (I don’t think that’s a huge spoiler, as it is a pretty drone heavy book from the start).
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Wow… That was thrilling. It’s impossible for me not to feel bad for a man in that kind of situation.
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I think it’s perfectly fine to feel bad for ordinary soldiers on “the enemy’s” side, especially in a war that has conscription and especially when they want to surrender. It’s human even.
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He made a wise decision. There’s no benefit to fighting for a backstabbing liar like Putin.
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Not sure what the typical load-out for Russian soldiers is these days, but to my eye he looks relatively well-equipped. Possibly a contract soldier (i.e. a regular) rather than a conscript?
ETA: I was totally wrong. He was indeed a conscript. Don’t listen to me folks, I have no idea what I’m talking about.
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Here’s a short clip of an interview with the soldier in captivity:
The full 2+ hour video includes interviews with both the Ukrainian drone pilot and the Russian soldier. Here’s the summary in English:
Main points: he was a conscript newly arrived at the front. A Wagner “guide” directed him and two other mobiks to a trench far away from other Russian positions, and then left. Ukrainian drones spotted them and dropped a grenade, injuring two of the Russians. They radioed for help to their command but received no response, and the two injured decided to kill themselves. The last survivor made contact with the Ukrainian drone and surrendered.
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i found this incredibly moving. i cannot imagine what he must have been feeling at that moment to get through that. i hope he’s safe and ok. i am sure the Ukrainians will treat him better than Russia did.
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I had seen the second video in the Business Insider article making the rounds. It shows more times where the Russian troops fire shells at him, and also you can see some tracer rounds. Terrifying.
I was annoyed by the song that they had added to it, because it’s manipulative, but damn, the manipulation works and my eyes are teary.
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Jesus. That is why Russia will ultimately lose. There is no
Soldiers on the front lines rarely fight for their country or even ideology. They fight for each other. In the heat of the moment, unit cohesion and the ability to overcome fear is what makes an effective fighting force.
Ukraine seems to have it in both a uniting cause they believe in, and strong unit cohesion. They don’t have untrained conscripts in trenches who they will threaten to shoot if they retreat. That tactic maybe worked in WWII, but it won’t here.
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Every time I come here I wear my fatigues, to honor the men that I knew.
I touch every name that came from my outfit, and I read them out loud when I do.
Now some people say that they all died for nothing, but I don’t completely agree
'Cause this brother here didn’t die for no country. He died for me.
From Touch a Name on the Wall by Joel Mabus
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i noted the same. didn’t think this would happen quite so soon in our timeline. pretty amazing.
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Hey, be careful! I’m nearly halfway through that book and other than a VIP tour of Houston in personal drone pods there really haven’t been any drones so far.
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I guess I’m naive but the idea that two of the injured guys with him chose to kill themselves is just terrifying. Obviously I’ve never been in situation where I’ve felt that that was the best or only viable option at the moment.
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My guess is that’s something else that can be put on the Russian’s tab, I’d bet they told them the Ukranians were Nazi psychopaths who enjoyed killing for sport (projection as always with fascists).
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I can’t help noticing the sorry state of that trench. It’s basically just a ditch, which I know qualifies as a “trench”, but if you expect soldiers to effectively defend a position for more than 48 hours or so, they really need to be built out. No structure, no grenade pit, just a fucking drainage ditch without even a berm to keep their heads on their soldiers.
I really hope Putin lives long enough to go before the ICC. What an inept monster.
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Or they know that enemy forces don’t always have the opportunity and resources to help wounded enemy in a combat zone.
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The Russian commanders might have said something like that to scare their troops into fighting @nick_warr but the two wounded Russian soldiers knew what the Wagner mercenaries would do to them for the crime of being injured.
There are so many, many ways to NULLIFY a wounded or injured solder it seems they took the easy way out.
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Sorry!
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A few inches of overhead cover would make the difference between life and death there.
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