Captured Russian penal unit soldier: One route where everyone dies
Soldiers of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine killed another assault group of Russian troops near the village of Starytsia. It so happened that in this assault group, among the latest batch of prisoners who survived the battle, there was another Russian penal unit soldier.
This time, an officer, a junior lieutenant, was sent on the assault, who, exactly as in World War II, "as the grandfathers fought," was sent to atone for his offense with blood. He was sent on the assault straight into Ukrainian machine guns and drones. The result was predictable: the group was killed, and this Russian penal officer is now in captivity. We, as the Khartiia Brigade, operate alongside the 72nd Brigade, with our brothers-in-arms. Interestingly for us, the 7th Motorized Rifle Regiment previously fought against Khartiia in the Lyptsi direction at the exact same landmarks, specifically the "Berlin" landmark; now, Khartiia soldiers have already driven the enemy out of there, and reliable Ukrainian positions, our defense, are established there.
And now the Russian junior lieutenant, a penal assault soldier, can tell the story of his path. And here is story number ten thousand about how Russian generals send their soldiers to be cannon fodder.
My name is Yan Vitalyevich Starostin, my rank is junior lieutenant, and my current position is a rifleman. Prior to this, I was a platoon commander of a mortar battery.
What military unit?
26414. 7th Separate Motor Rifle Regiment. 11th Army Corps.
What is your registered address? Where do you actually reside?
My registered address is the city of Kaliningrad, Bagrationovsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast, Bagrationovsky District, Medovoye village, 2A Kaliningradskaya Street. I currently reside in apartment 4, 13A Chekistov Street, city of Kaliningrad.
Are you originally from Kaliningrad and deployed to this regiment?
I was mobilized, summoned. The police suggested I go to the military enlistment office; this was in 2022, on September 25, to verify my data. District militia officers, or rather, not the police, but precinct officers. People were already sitting at the military enlistment office; a bus (was there - ed.note), and they brought us to the military unit.
How do your relatives react to the fact that you went to the war? How did your family, friends, and acquaintances perceive this in general?
My mother has been in the military since the USSR era, and my grandfather was a serviceman from a military family. For her, it was something you just had to do. My wife told me not to go and said there would just be some kind of fine. At the auto repair shop, there was one guy I had become friends with, and he later became my client. He said that if there were problems with the military enlistment office, I should call him. I said, "Well, here is the military enlistment office". It was a Sunday. Nobody at the enlistment office was supposed to be working, but we had all been gathered there. He said, "Today is Sunday, I won't be able to do anything." If you have already taken the draft notice, he said, go to the unit, and I’ll get you out of there. I thought, well, great. After that, he spent a day or two working on it, asking me for my details. Then he wrote that it was f#cking impossible to get me out of the unit now. He told me to serve carefully and wished me good health.
What cars did you repair?
By profession, I am an auto mechanic. I worked in Kaliningrad at Dinamika Kaliningrad Hyundai LLC, an official Hyundai dealer.
Approximately how much did you earn per month?
From 80,000 to 100,000 rubles.
How much do you receive here, in the Russian army, how much have you been receiving all this time?
At the beginning of the SMO(Special Military Operation - ed.note), when I was in a soldier's position, it was 193. Now it is somewhere around 220-230, in that range. But as I was AWOL for half a year, I haven't received anything, so...
Please tell us about your participation in the war. Where were you deployed in 2022? What has been your path in the war?
In 2022, I ended up in a mortar battery as a crewman, in the same sector where I had served as a conscript. I was carrying out missions. In February 2023, we arrived in Ukraine. I carried out tasks in the area of the settlements of Kuzemivka and Novosilky. We were there for a long time. I demonstrated my leadership qualities. After my platoon commander was taken away, the battery commander decided to appoint me as the platoon commander. They gave me a star (officer rank - ed. note). Then came the first wound, which was in September 2023. A light one. Then the tasks kept changing like that. From one place to another. Then the second, severe wound. The second wound was severe. After it, just everything. It shut me down. I don't want anything, just to see my wife and son next to me. And everything else is not mine. And everything I was doing was all for nothing.
Tell us, under what circumstances did you receive this severe wound? When did this happen?
In the area of the settlement of Lyman-1. There is a small hamlet there, Vorobivka. We were driving in a vehicle with the battery commander and the driver. And we came under an FPV drone attack. The commander was KIA instantly.
There was nothing left of him. And I got hit hard. All four limbs were covered in shrapnel, in burns. Loss of hearing. So there you go. It was... around April 20. Of 2024.
Did you undergo a full course of treatment in a hospital after that?
Yes, I underwent treatment at a hospital in Yaroslavl. For a month. On May 29, I was discharged. Then a month of leave. And then I found something to do in the regiment so as not to go to the front. I was transporting Cargo 200 (a military code word used in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet states referring to the transportation of military fatalities - ed.note)
And how much did you receive for your severe wound?
Three million.
And now they are already giving 100,000 each?
Now, I think, I would have pulled a million. But it is no longer a question of the wounded being deprived. For example, (a guy - ed.note) who is all bandaged up, he has no eyes, he is covered in burns, covered in shrapnel, receives three (million - ed.note). And the one who received a piece of shrapnel and can keep running, also gets three. Even the guys say among themselves that this is wrong. I got an ulcer; I have a brain tumor, they found it at the MMC, it's benign, so it doesn't affect my fitness category in any way. Bad knees, like I'm 33 years old, but everything is like an old man. With the ulcer came obesity; I used to weigh 75 when I left for the SMO, now it's 102, and you don't eat, you are nervous, you just sit, you still don't lose weight. I need to join a gym.
Did you go to the elections in Russia at all?
I did.
Who did you vote for?
The very first time for Zhirinovsky. And then I started voting for Putin. Well, just like everyone else, so I went. Maybe then I thought differently somehow. In fact, specifically in my situation with these assaults, it's no longer Putin. Unit commanders, corps commanders, that is, commanders specifically with these stars, Gerasimov, Shoigu... they removed everyone, left only Gerasimov. As if he had nothing to do with it or something. All the military, all the officers, everyone, even before the start, during the mobilization, when Shoigu was there, everyone was directly saying that they hate him, Shoigu — soldiers, contract soldiers, officers. And then it started, this one embezzled, that one embezzled, this one has cars, diamonds there.
Yes, we read your news, we were struck by the scale of corruption in the Russian army; of course, we knew there was corruption, but such billion-dollar fortunes among your generals. Rich people. Well, did you manage to save some money in the army?
Yes, I saved up.
How much have you managed to save since 2022?
Well, my wife and I bought an apartment.
How much did it cost?
About five (million - ed.note).
Is this all money from the war?
Yes, for the wounds. In the war, actually, the salary, it is all, roughly speaking, money from the wounds. Because the main salary goes to... you can buy a generator there once a week, UAZs, we like to eat. All sorts of pumps, maintaining the equipment, that's something else. There are vehicles that are issued in the army, and there are... Well, we bought them ourselves, a UAZ, a Niva. Naturally, in such conditions, they wear out quickly, you have to repair them, you have to keep 3-4 vehicles so that while one is being repaired, one is running; three are being repaired, one is running. And their maintenance is constant. We have to buy extra gasoline, because there are more vehicles, more generators than we declare to the command. That's why the salary gets spent really fast.
But then anyway, your operation in Kursk started, they raised our corps, everyone, absolutely everyone, on crutches, the sick, those with hepatitis, they crammed everyone in and sent them by air. I was supposed to be assigned to the 79th Regiment to get to Kursk. Well, naturally, my comrades, I know them, I want to serve with those I know. I made it so that I got back to the 7th (Regiment - ed.note). At that time, the 7th was stationed in the Lyptsi direction. This was September 2024. I was in a position there for half a year. In March, at the end of March, I received a referral for surgery. I have tympanoplasty. The eardrum. The referral came. I was withdrawn for the surgery. I went to St. Petersburg, to the Kirov Academy. They did the surgery, gave me a month of leave. And after the leave, I did not return. Because I couldn't, morally or physically. I remained AWOL.
Tell us about your participation in the battles near Lyptsi. What was happening there, what did you see?
In the battles near Lyptsi? At first, everything seemed fine there. The so-called "Berlin". Our vehicles would drive up to it. People were brought in. There was a supply of food and ammo. Then, over time, the vehicles stopped driving. The roads were being mined, there were many FPVs. People started walking. They also started cutting off the foot resupply. A lot of casualties. And for the last ones who remained at "Berlin", food was dropped to them only by drones. A can of stewed meat, a bottle of water for two for a day. We, the mortarmen, had a different task. There were Ukrainian assaults. We repelled them. But slowly they entrenched themselves, pushed us out, and filled this forest.
Yes, I see. How long were you and your battery at the "Berlin" position?
The battery itself was there even longer than I was. Because I arrived from the hospital. And I left earlier, they were still staying there. Therefore, I was there for only 7 months. They said that they were about a year or two in one place. A company commander, an acquaintance, was withdrawing. He also complained that the company was wiped out, not a single firefight. Everything was just killed by drones.
Tell me, did you clash in battle with the Khartia brigade? Did your commanders tell you?
No, I haven't heard of it.
When did you go AWOL?
Around May 15-16, the leave was ending. And I did not return from the leave.
What year was that?
2025.
Were you offered to sign a contract, as a mobilized soldier?
Yes, they offered. There was an offer. They say that the guys on the front line were offered. But the guys wrote a refusal, a report of refusal, and no problems. I just heard it in passing, because someone was talking. That they were directly forcing them, no, there was none of that.
And why don't mobilized soldiers want to become contract soldiers in Russia?
I don't know. I am mobilized, I kept believing and waiting for the promise of Medvedev, Kartapolov, which was given at the beginning of the mobilization, that the mobilized would be released. When they recruit 300,000 contract soldiers in return. Everything relied on this. I don't want to have anything to do with the army. To be a contract soldier. The war will end, the mobilized soldiers will be released, let the contract soldiers continue to fulfill their contracts.
Well, what did they say in your military family when they found out that you went AWOL? Your mother is military, all your relatives are military.
Well, my mom sees what is happening. The main thing is for her son to be alive. At first, somehow there is euphoria with the draft notice. And with us too, with everyone who was mobilized, with everyone, even though I didn't manage to dodge, when we arrived, we were warriors there. Everyone had that. And now it has all evaporated. For me, everything has evaporated. The goal evaporated, any desire, what this is all for. No, my goal now is to return alive. Just to my son and wife. I spent a month AWOL with them. I mean, when I left, my son was 4. Well, just 4, a child, a child there, you build blocks. And now he is big. Basketball, football, a magical time.
How did they catch you? So, you didn't return to the unit in May. What did the unit do to find you and bring you back?
They put me on the federal wanted list. They tracked me down using cameras. The police met me, handed me over to the commandant's office. Then the AWOL center, investigation, court. The court gave me a 5-year suspended sentence. Even though I asked to go to prison.
Have you seen many of such AWOL soldiers who abandon their unit without leave?
Where I was, that AWOL center, they have a certain number of people there, like 20 people. One was convicted, and he got out.
They took people for replenishment, that is, there is no such thing as completely filling the barracks. They just have some kind of limit, and they maintain it, because maybe they have some difficulties there. But otherwise, well, they arrive there. Those who ran away for up to ten days arrive, those who just signed a contract, mobilized soldiers after being wounded like me, they pull people out of hospitals. That is, a person was being treated in a hospital, someone filled out paperwork incorrectly in the unit, they arrived, and while he was lying in the hospital, he was registered as AWOL. And his leg hadn't healed yet there, it was meat. So they threw him in with us. Well, he was acquitted, everything is fine with him.
And were you immediately sent to your regiment? That is, do they return you to the exact same regiment you left?
Yes.
How were you met at the regiment?
In Kaliningrad itself, normally. But when I already entered Ukraine, there, of course, they were swearing.
Who was swearing?
I don't know. The seniors who receive the people there. A KamAZ arrived, a crowd is standing there. The seniors there, for example, the battalions. And they don't have it like in the military. That is, even the brigade commander is there. That is, it's just like in a penal colony. The brigade commander was standing there. Well, of course, there. AWOL, ugh, f#ck, f#cking scum. Well, they gave me a smack a couple of times there.
Did they beat you?
Well, just lightly.
And who hit you?
I don't know. I don't remember who it was.
Do they beat everyone like that?
No, well, I talked back a little bit there.
What did you say?
I don't know how to explain it. So they ask, jump off the KamAZ, fall in. Jumped off the KamAZ, stood. They said to fall in. I say, I have fallen in. That's it, they said to fall in, don't you understand? I say, f#ck, don't you see? I fell into formation. Well, something like that.
And what happened after they formed you up, brought you back? How many of you were there in total, who were AWOL soldiers?
Out of the AWOL soldiers, I was the only one who returned. The rest of the guys were taken to other units. Some just to assault units. Me to Company V.
What kind of unit is Company V?
Company V is specifically everyone who after... Signed a contract either during investigative actions, that is, before trial. Or after the trial, or from prison. Or like me, with a suspended sentence. Although previously those with a suspended sentence served in regular units without any problems. I spent three days there. That is, I am a mortarman, they started training me as an assault trooper. Just three days. There was shooting. Land navigation. And working in four-man teams. That is, shooting, I know how to do that. My land navigation is good. Working in four-man teams. The training there was just so-so, too. And in the end, on the next, fourth day, they formed us up. They gave a paper saying that I completed three weeks of training as an assault trooper. Won't sign it? You'll get it. So it’s better not to get cocky. I signed it. That was it. Into the KamAZ and off to the forest.
What sector of the front did you end up on?
We ended up west of Vovchansk. It is a large territory there, well, a large forest area. West of Vovchansk. The company was brought into the forest. Distributed among the dugouts. What company? There were six squads there. Three or four people each.
What was the total strength of the company altogether?
Twenty-five people
An assault company of twenty-five people?
Well, something like that.
And were there no other people in the company there?
People remained in Bilovodsk to continue training. Also, about twenty more people. Now they will wipe us out, then they will bring them to be wiped out.
When did you go on the assault? What date was it?
On January 16. Also, somewhere in the evening, around eight o'clock, they alerted us. They told us to be on combat readiness. Then, after some time, they said, that's it, start. We went. But I don't remember, I didn't look at the exact time. Well, it was already dark outside. It must have been ten, maybe eleven o'clock already.
Did the entire assault company, consisting of twenty-five people, go on this assault, on this mission?
No. They divided us; they let one squad through per day. The first time, three went. Two KIA and one managed to fall back. They didn't even cross the open ground. On the second day, I was supposed to, well, that is, the next day after them, but a drone spotted us. Right there at the exit. It scared me with drone drops. They told us to retreat into the dugout. And the next day I had attempt number two. That was already the second attempt. And then the next day, another group went.
So the tactics are such that there are few of you in the groups, and they have to go every day.
Yes. Along the same route. Only the time changes. Chaotically. Two in the morning, five in the morning, four in the morning. Six in the morning.
Who captured you?
If I'm not mistaken, the 72nd Brigade of some sort.
There is one, yes. The 72nd Mechanized Brigade.
Yes, those were the warriors specifically from this brigade.
How were you treated?
Well. While they were leading us out, we actually had a very sincere chat with the fighters. It was very interesting to talk with the enemy. We talked about any topic. And... That is...
What did you talk about with the fighters of the 72nd Ukrainian Brigade?
About the war, and about life in general, who worked as what, about children. That is, we talked about absolutely everything. We came to the command post. There was, as I understand it, the battalion commander. There was a radio operator, sitting. There too, in principle, they received us normally. They gave us something to drink, to smoke. That is, they did not mistreat or beat us.
You see how it is? In Ukrainian captivity, you were treated better than in your own 7th Motor Rifle Regiment.
Yes, I thought about that. I kept going over it in my head. Unfortunately, yes, that’s how it is. That’s really how it is.
And how do you evaluate, as an officer, as a person with combat experience, the combat mission assigned to you? Did you have any doubts, or did you consider it to be tactically sound?
Yes, there were doubts, of course. Because sending people along the exact same route where everyone dies, they are just time... Well, it's nonsense. Everyone gets picked off there. And one, two, three, four. They just try to change the time. At two in the morning, four, six, there, at ten o'clock. And that's it. By themselves.
Where did you get this information that all the groups that went in before you had all died?
I asked the commanders, and they told me exactly that. They even warned us themselves. So, you will walk along the road right here, there will be a lot of our KIAs here, don't be scared of them.
And what do you think will happen to you, now that you have been captured, what will happen to you next?
No thoughts on this matter yet.
Well, I imagine going back. Assaults. Assaults again, yes.
We can only once again thank the soldiers of the 72nd Brigade for the vital and extremely difficult combat work they are carrying out while defending the village of Starytsia and Kharkiv Oblast. The 72nd Brigade is one of the best military units. Honor and glory to the Ukrainian infantry.
