Russian soldiers who attempt to abandon the battlefield are facing horrifying consequences, with punishments so severe they’ve drawn comparisons to ancient folklore.
Some troops have dubbed the cruel disciplinary measures a “sacrifice to Baba Yaga”, the legendary Slavic witch known for devouring her victims.
CNN reported that a harrowing video, reportedly filmed by a Russian serviceman, shows a soldier tied to a tree, left completely exposed, potentially to be killed by a Ukrainian drone strike.
The fate of the man is unknown, but the circumstances behind the scene are becoming increasingly clear through intercepted radio transmissions shared with CNN.
In one intercepted command, a Russian officer instructs: “Hide him somewhere (while the fighting is ongoing) then take him out and tie him to a tree … in the next half hour.”
The cruel directive was reportedly punishment for desertion. According to a Ukrainian drone unit commander known by the callsign Munin, this is not an isolated case.
“Any large Ukrainian drone they call Baba Yaga. It spreads terrible panic in these damaged people. For them, it’s some kind of scary myth that flies in and kills everyone,” Munin told CNN, adding that he’s both witnessed and heard numerous such incidents over the radio.
These disturbing scenes have increasingly been captured either by Ukrainian surveillance drones or by Russian soldiers themselves, with the footage making its way onto Telegram and other social media platforms.
One clip shows two men, stripped and trapped inside a storage tank. “Time to feed the animals!” a voice says mockingly, as the camera pans over the cowering men.
Though Russian forces have been advancing slowly through Ukraine, the videos highlight the grim reality within Russia’s military ranks.
Reports indicated that tens of thousands of men have deserted since the full-scale invasion began in early 2022.
In another chilling video, a captured Russian soldier tied to a tree identifies himself as being from Kamensk-Uralsky in central Russia. He says he fled after panicking when a Ukrainian drone flew overhead.
He recounts a conversation with a fellow soldier, “Let me make you ‘300’ so you’ll be withdrawn,” referencing a military term for wounded personnel. The man refused the offer but says he was shot anyway.
Now bound tightly to a tree, he nervously watches the sky as another soldier warns him, “(If the drone) comes here, she’s going to drop everything on you.” The video cuts before his fate is revealed.
Amid growing dissent, some Russian soldiers are turning to social media to plead for help. In one such appeal, a man identified as Yuri Duryagin posts a video addressed to President Vladimir Putin.
“Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,” he begins, recounting his experience in the Donetsk region, where only 32 men from his company survived a brutal assault due to inadequate weapons and ammunition.
He says he received less than 20% of his promised pay and that commanders dismissed his attempts to raise concerns. Duryagin claims that battlefield deaths are often concealed to avoid compensating families.
“I personally saw comrades die before my eyes. They were killed. Parents tried to find out information about their relatives and loved ones, but they were told that the person was missing,” he says.
He even accuses a commander of executing those who refused to fight, “He put people up against the wall because they simply refused to go up against a machine gun.”
According to Grigory Sverdlin, founder of Get Lost, a group helping Russians avoid conscription or desert the army, violence and fear are the forces binding the Russian military.
Speaking from Barcelona, Sverdlin said, “Violence is what is keeping the Russian army going and what is glueing it together.”
He claims Get Lost has helped about 1,700 people desert since it was established six months into the war, estimating total desertions could number in the tens of thousands.
Leaked Russian Defense Ministry data cited by the Institute for the Study of War suggests that figure might be around 50,000.
The videos reflect the desperate lengths some commanders go to instill fear. In one, a man is tied to a tree with a rusty bucket over his head, then violently kicked in the face. In another, he’s dragged through a field behind a jeep in what’s called “the carousel.”
Punishments extend to humiliation as well. One clip shows three nearly-naked men crammed into a metal tank, with a mocking voice saying, “Time to feed the animals! The ones who tried to f**k off! Let’s find out what they are doing.”
When he offers one of them a cookie, he asks: “You hungry?” and the man silently nods before devouring the biscuit crumbs.
Western intelligence sources estimate that about one million Russian troops have been killed or wounded since February 2022, with NATO estimating 100,000 Russian deaths in 2025 alone.
While Ukraine faces its own morale and desertion issues, belief in the cause appears to be far stronger among Ukrainian troops.
According to Sverdlin, the main sentiment he hears from the Russians he helps escape is confusion and detachment from the war’s objectives.
“Some of them just tell us ‘I don’t want to die here,’ but I would say the most common words are ‘it’s not my war, it’s not our war … I don’t understand what the hell we are doing here.’”
