BROKEN BONES

‘I’ll Break Your Finger’: Putin’s Troops Injure Each Other to Ditch War, Intel Says

Ukraine’s Security Service released audio of what it said was an especially desperate attempt to be sent home.

Russian soldiers sent to Ukraine have regularly been caught trying to maim themselves in order to abandon the war, according to Ukrainian intelligence, and the latest example involves a baseball bat and a broken finger. In a brief audio clip of what Ukraine’s Security Service described as an intercepted phone call, a man identified as a Russian soldier based in the Kharkiv region tells his father about a clumsy attempt to help a friend leave the frontline. “He needed to urgently go home, but they wouldn’t let him. He comes and says, ‘What to do?’ I say, well, here is a suggestion: We have a bat there... come on, I said, I’ll break your finger.” The purported soldier said his friend agreed and took a hit to his finger, then left and later returned only to announce, “They told me it’s only a bruise.” He said the pair had to then pull out the bat again so he could “hit him a second time.” It wasn’t clear if the soldier was ultimately sent home. Ukrainian intelligence has previously shared audio of what it described as similar schemes, with soldiers being urged to throw themselves off tanks or shoot themselves in the leg.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Allison QuinnNews Editor

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.