Putin’s army torturing and killing its own soldiers for refusing to fight in Ukraine war?

Russian army commanders are reportedly torturing and executing their soldiers for refusing to fight in the ongoing war against Ukraine. As per an investigation by Verstka, a few testimonies of the Russian soldiers, relatives of the dead, leaked videos, and official complaint records have revealed that 101 Russian servicemen were accused of murdering, torturing, or fatally punishing their own comrades.

The outlet claimed that it has verified at least 150 deaths, though they said they believed the true tally to be far higher.

Reports of soldiers being killed by their own side and of so-called blocking units have been circulated widely since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Although the Kremlin has repeatedly rejected the allegations, saying that such problems are instead rife within the Ukrainian army.

Verstka cited testimonies from soldiers who said commanders had appointed “execution shooters” to open fire on refusers and later dump their bodies in rivers or shallow graves, registering them as killed in action.

A video circulated in May 2025 by Ukrainian groups monitoring Russian forces showed two shirtless men in a pit as a voice off-camera says, “Commander Kama basically said whoever beats the other one to death gets out of the pit.”

The men begin to fight as the voice continues to taunt them – “Finish him off already, what are you waiting for?” – until one collapses motionless on the ground.