Here’s a collection of translations of three intercepted calls published by the Ukrainian GUR between 22 and 24 July:
23 July.
Russian invader tells his friend about significant combat losses inflicted to his battalion. There is now need to merge several battalions into one to preserve combat power. He also explains how Russian troops are attacked unexpectedly by silent missiles, and how those wounded Russian soldiers returning to combat have to buy their own gear such as nightvisions and UAVs.
#ГУРперехоплення
📞«Якась РСЗО, типу «Граду», «Урагану» Тільки беззвучна»▪ Рашист розповідає, що кілька батальйонів виводиться із зони бойових дій через високі втрати.
— Defence intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) July 23, 2022
(R1)=Russian man (R2)=Russian man 2
(R1): Is there no one to replace you?
(R2): F*ck knows, Igor. They withdrew the battalions, they will be forming one out of three since there is no people left. And no one knows if it can be formed at all. The battalions have rolled back a bit.
(R1): A lot of people died?
(R2): Died, and a f*ck ton of wounded. They’ll be forming now… f*ck knows, if they can form a battalion, or not. If not, who’s going to fight? Perhaps we’ll be withdrawn. Psychologists will be speaking to them for like 10 days now, since no one wants to go in anymore. Two thousand people were entering, now I’m telling you if 500 people remained then that’s good.
(R1): F*ck.
(R2): We came, we now live here with scouts, two days ago they had an arrival in their building. Some sh*t that you cannot hear arriving. It’s just whistles for two seconds, then baam-baam!
(R1): Maybe this silent Polish sh*t?
(R2): No, no, it’s some MLRS like Grad or Uragan, but it’s silent.
(R1): Maybe the f*cking Hummers or Hammers?
(R2): Not Hummers, what are they called…
(R1): The French ones?
(R2): All they’re saying on the TV is bollocks, that we have minimal losses. What do you think is happening? The boys who were wounded are coming back, buying themselves nightvisions, otherwise there’s nothing… Yes, we have brigade commander here, he was selling honey, buying UAVs. Twenty two-hundred litre barrels of honey he sold, imagine, and bought 4 UAVs.
(R1): Where did he get them?
(R2): He bought them, they are for sale.
(R1): I mean the honey.
(R2): Ah, they opened up some apiary somewhere, there’s a f*ckload of them here. Now they’re saying some of our St. Petersburg factory has developed something, that should enter the service, something like a Bayraktar, that drops some sh*t also. They say there are about 12 of them yet, but they are in the forces somewhere.
23 July.
In this intercepted call, the Russian invaders tells his wife fun stories about his time in Ukraine. First, he describes how his commander is not working with the paperwork that was produced to send the soldiers back home. It is likely that the higher command is not receiving accurate reports on how many soldiers remain in the unit.
He then goes on to describe a recent situation where several Russian soldiers got drunk at night and fired grenade launchers at a village nearby. This caused quite a concern for the unit since an attack by Ukrainian forces can come any moment and it’s not safe being in this situation.
#ГУРперехоплення
📞 «Нажерлись і гранатометами в село всадили» – окупант розповідає мамі про «пригоди» колег по службі«Він над людьми тут знущався. У нього куля свистить в голові.»
— Defence intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) July 23, 2022
(R)=Russian man (W)=Woman
(R): They say the paperwork for our withdrawal is here, at the commanding point, but the commander of this 49th army, the general who came to our camp, he doesn’t let them move. It is possible that the higher command doesn’t know anything about who is actually here. He’s probably not reporting how many people are remaining. […] One of our vehicles with belongings… all the stuff that survived when our base has burned, half of it was taken away in Ural trucks somewhere… all the bags, rucksacks, all that survived.
(W): Are these the belongings you’ve had with you here, and now what you left behind in the kolkhoz?
(R): Of course, half of it we obtained here. People ran off, dumped something. Half the people have nothing to wear here, they wear t-shirts and shorts and whatever they can find in abandoned houses. […] There was a rumour, we had something going on yesterday between 4 and 5, it was very noisy. We have a circular defence, just in case anything happens, if the *Ukrainians* start coming. Then it turned out that the Puzyr *nickname* with some bastard Kolya got drunk and fired grenade launchers at a village. Kolya is insane, he doesn’t give a f*ck about anything. He was messing with people here. He’s a private contractor, worked during some military campaign on a contract back in the day. He’s crazy, only the battalion commander was keeping him in check. But now he’s on another position. He must have let loose with Puzyr and Dimon. In the village, out of 300 people there must be around 50 old people left. I’ve not been there in those days, maybe they *fired* at empty houses. They must have gotten absolutely hammered if at 4am decided to do this sh*t.
24 July
Propaganda in Russia paints a different picture of the War in Ukraine to the Russian public. From the words of the Russian soldier’s mother in this intercepted call, Ukraine is not receiving anymore money from the West, and the weapons supplies dry up. The invader refutes this claim and says the opposite is true. On the other hand, he cannot get out since he is genuinely afraid he might get sentenced for deserting upon returning back to Russia.
#ГУРперехоплення
📞 «Тут більше за техніку, ніж за людину…» – окупант скаржиться на ставлення з боку командирів.▪ Мама окупанта розповідає про новини російських ЗМІ. Головна думка – Україна потроху здається: «Вже Захід грошей не дає, Зброю також призупиняють, не посилають». pic.twitter.com/2KdLPQZPpe
— Defence intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) July 24, 2022
(R)=Russian man (W)=Woman
(W): Slowly, slowly they *Ukrainians* are backing down.
(R): I don’t know about that, they’re actually doing quite well.
(W): They say here that they aren’t.
(R): Who’s telling you? I’m right here now.
(W): Yes, yes.
(R): I’m telling you as it is.
(W): The West isn’t giving more money. That’s it! The weapon supplies… are also stopping.
(R): Come on.
(W): They’re not being sent…
(R): Relax. None of this is truth.
(W): Right. I see.
(R): No one gives a sh*t about us here.
(W): Right.
(R): You know… they *care* more about vehicles than people here.
(W): When you come home I’ll be still seeking it… if they don’t pay you money, but I’ll be calling, I’ll be enquiring…
(R): I’m kind of afraid that I might be sentenced in Russia.
(W): I told you, that Putin said to consider it as deserting, and immediately, immediately…
(R): Immediately what?
(W): To sentence.
(R): For how long?
(W): I don’t know. I don’t know, Sasha. I only later heard about deserting and sentencing. But for how long, I don’t know…
