Russian Anitin is the only survivor of his unit on the front line in Bakhmut after being dropped from a Ukrainian drone. He began signaling to the camera of the drone to show himself to the Ukrainian pilots. Under his own fire, he managed to reach the Ukrainian positions.
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The story of the Russian prisoner is told by WSJ.
Ruslan Anitin, 30, a thin man with a receding hairline, trained as a veterinarian and did not expect to be in the middle of a war. When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year, he was working as a caretaker in a penal colony. Then Anitin believed that only a professional army would fight in Ukraine.
The situation changed in September 2022, when Russia, after a series of losses, began to mobilize civilians. Once a man received a phone call to come to the local military registration and enlistment office. There he was told to pack his things at home and come the next morning, otherwise he would face jail for evasion. Anitin left, leaving his wife and three-year-old daughter at home.
The mobilized were given uniforms and Soviet-era rifles. According to Anitin, during the weeks of training, they had only two chances to fire their weapons. Less than a month later, the man was sent to Ukraine.
His unit was engaged in security and built fortified positions in Luhansk. There was no fighting for several months, but in early May the platoon leader said they were heading for Bakhmut. Anitin and other recruits were driven by a military truck into the woods a few hundred meters from the front line.
They were ordered to move into the trench system close to the Ukrainian positions, hide and sit there. At about one in the morning, a Wagner fighter led them into the nearest trench, where they immediately came under mortar fire that lasted 40 minutes.
The Wagner fighter warned that if the men refused to carry out their tasks or began to retreat, they would be shot.
It was difficult to escape from shelling just 200 meters from Ukrainian positions. In the end, Anitin and his colleague Ivanov discovered holes in the walls of the trench. They climbed inside to hide.
Small Chinese-made drones with four propellers were a constant threat. They sent the Ukrainian military a live video that corrected the orders of the Ukrainian artillery. Some of them dropped explosive shells into the trench.
In the morning Ivanov and Anitin were injured by the explosion, Ivanov felt especially bad. Anitin found the right and called the commanders to help. But there was no answer.
Ivanov tore the pin out of a hand grenade and blew it up next to his head. The third person in their group was badly injured. According to the Ukrainians, he later shot himself with his own rifle.
Anita was left alone. Drone and mortar attacks continued throughout the day. Around 17.00, Anitin no longer had any strength left, and he believed that he “would remain in this trench forever.”
Then he came up with the idea of surrendering to the drone.
He stood up without a rifle and waved his hand to stop the attack. Dried and exhausted, Anitin crossed his arms over his head and, looking into the drone camera, clasped his palms together, asking him to stop the bombardment. In the video recorded by drones, he can be seen running his finger along his neck and nodding his head in a call to Ukrainians not to kill him if he shows himself.
Anitin’s face was shown on the screen of the command post of the 92nd Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine, a few kilometers away. Colonel Pavel Fedosenko consulted with other officers and radioed an order to the pilots to try to take him alive.
Ukrainian drone pilots were initially suspicious of Anitin’s signs because they feared a trap. The assault drone was already intent on killing Anitin, according to its pilot, a 26-year-old Ukrainian with the call sign of a boxer.
But when Boxer saw Anitin begging for his life, he decided to interrupt his mission and threw a grenade near his position.
Ukrainian officers at the command post ordered Boxer to get in touch with the Russian.
The pilot took a marker from his first-aid kit and wrote in Russian on a food package:
Say go get the drone.
For weight, he filled the bag with earth and attached it to a drone to drop to a Russian soldier.
After reading the note, Anitin gestured that he agreed to surrender.
Then the drones led him through the trenches, covering him from the Russians, who opened fire on Anitin.
Less than a week later, Ukrainian forces captured the trench where Anitin and other recruits were stationed. He had already shared a cell in a pre-trial detention center in the Kharkiv region with three other prisoners.
Speaking to the WSJ on May 19, Anitin said that despite the fact that he faces a prison if he returns to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange, returning is the only thing he wants now.
Let me be locked up. I would like to return home to my family and never experience more than I have seen here.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.