Thread by @DmytroGurinMP

Bucha, 4 weeks ago, Russian volunteer Artyom Shirobokov (“Yesenin”) wrote a text I couldn’t confirm and did not publish because of possible «literary exaggerations». It was my mistake.

«How I escaped from the Orc [i.e. Russian] encirclement and what I have to tell» 1/

My unit, as part of civil defense, had faced the enemy in the city of X (I won’t disclose the particulars for obvious reasons).

We were able to fight off the first attack, the second one put more pressure on us, they had a lot of heavy equipment. 2/

Our unit had split up a bit and my group wound up in the rear of the Russians’ position. The next four long days we made our way to the Ukrainian troops. We changed into civilian clothing, crawled under enemy tanks through the fields, and even spent time in captivity. 3/

We saw the grim details of how exactly the Russian army “does not touch the civilians.” This is probably the most important thing I want to get across. 4/

If, in Kherson and Melitopol, people hurl themselves against Russian tanks and come out to protest, it’s because they still have communications. 5/

In the small towns I made my way through, where there is no mobile communications and no Internet, everything looks completely different.

1. Civilians are shot. Just for fun. For pleasure. Age and gender notwithstanding. 6/

2. I was led down a street at gunpoint to the “captives base”, it was littered with the corpses of old grandpas and grandmas. Whether they were checking up on their neighbors, going to get water, lacking food – who the fuck cares. They were lying there, every 10 meters. 7/

3. The “Russian orc” who was talking to our group of evacuees (I had already dumped my camo and got me some civilian clothes), shot an older man on the spot just for making a step in the wrong direction (he was on his way to bring food to his bedridden mother). 8/

4. On the way to where all the men in the town were being brought, the Russians started firing at the ones who were in the front of the column. The ones who weren’t hit scattered off to the backyards, away from the street. At this moment I was able to split, again. 9/

5. They cut off the power, water, heat. People are freezing, dying of starvation and thirst. Only the Russians can access the supermarkets and pharmacies (I saw the bodies of people, who had tried to replenish their food supplies, at the entrance). 10/

6. The population totally hates the Russians. My Russian accent provoked mad fury in people when I talked to them. Because the Russians had organized fucking genocide for them right now, in 2022. 11/

There was not a single person who wouldn’t refer to the “Russians” on a tank next to his house as bastards. 12/

7. Classically, all the military equipment has been stationed on the territory of private homes, next to residential buildings. And these animals take their breaks in people’s apartments – they kick people out. 13/

The owners are sent to stay in the freezing cellars. I saw self-propelled artillery vehicles on daycare center territory, which is where they were shelling from (they do this knowing that our artillery won’t hit them there). 14/

This is the answer to the question why they are not letting the locals evacuate: they have their human shield, made of living people. As opposed to them, Ukranian army stops when there’s a threat to civilians. 15/

8. As I was getting closer to Ukrainian troops, I met a group of local men with shovels, they were burying, on a playground, a mother with her daughter, wrapped in a blanket (they died during shelling). 16/

They grabbed me by my clothing and screamed curses at me when I asked the way in Russian.

I’m saying all this not to create panic, but to get the following idea across: 17/

The biggest “Russophobe” on this planet is Putin. His politics, his minions are doing everything to ensure that Russians are hated across the word. 18/

Since 2016, living peacefully in Ukraine, I had defended the “normal Russians”, saying that they are our allies, they oppose the war, they did not vote for The Dickhead [Putin], they will revolt yet. And now what? 19/

While completely insane freaks in the Russian army are genociding a peaceful people, Russia’s population is complaining about “Russophobia” on Instagram. /20

I want this war to end so that Ukrainian children are not being killed anymore, so that aircraft bombs (!!!) are no longer dropped on peaceful cities. You, in Russia, want the war to end so that you can devour a Big Mac and buy an Ikea dresser. /21

We’re too different. I don’t know how this all has to end for me to stop hating you. /The end