A Russian soldier blew up his unit’s headquarters before escaping and defecting to Ukraine, Kyiv has revealed.
The soldier, an FPV (first person view) drone pilot known by his call-sign “Silver”, said on Wednesday that he was driven to switch sides after witnessing atrocities committed by his Storm-Z assault unit.
Ukraine’s military intelligence, HUR, revealed the secret operation and his defection had been meticulously planned for months with the help of the Freedom of Russia Legion (FRL), a Russian partisan group fighting for Ukraine.
In secretly recorded footage from inside the basement of the headquarters, officers in the Storm-Z unit, which are usually made up of ex-convicts or former mercenaries, are seen talking and cleaning their guns.
Once the unit commander and officers go to bed, a huge explosion erupts inside the room.
Battalion commander seriously wounded
“There were about 15 people in the basement,” Silver said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
“There was a pipe directly above the bed where they were sleeping that went into the street next to the entrance, and we decided to throw two grenades into this pipe so that they would explode next to them,” he added.
The blast severely wounded the battalion commander, according to reports.
The soldier then reportedly left anti-infantry mines on the road, before taking a pre-arranged route across the front line into Ukrainian territory and surrendering to Kyiv’s forces.
Silver said he had become disillusioned with Russia’s war in Ukraine and the “other crimes carried out by his command, including extrajudicial executions, beatings and extortion” against both civilians and soldiers.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
