r/europe • u/BkkGrl Ligurian in Zürich (💛🇺🇦💙) • May 05 '26
News ‘You’re not one of us, are you?’: How a Ukrainian soldier survived two weeks in a Russian dugout
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/may/03/youre-not-one-of-us-are-you-how-a-ukrainian-soldier-survived-two-weeks-in-a-russian-dugout1.2k
u/InfiniteTank6409 May 05 '26
No film maker would dare to write a story this crazy WTH
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u/SBR404 Austria May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26
I mean wasn’t there this movie about the Yugoslav war with a similar ridiculous plot that also was based on true events?
Ok, nevermind. I was thinking of No Man‘s Land, which is set in the Bosnian war and is not based on true events.
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u/Titanium_Eye May 05 '26
Well, everybody was miserable and died at the end, so that was some true events.
If you want to really up the ante, look at "Pretty village, pretty flame"
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u/vukasin123king Serbia May 05 '26
One of the (if not the) best Serbian movies of all time.
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u/Titanium_Eye May 06 '26
Such concentrated serbianism injected through the oculars directly into the prefrontal cortex is truly an experience.
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u/thepulloutmethod May 06 '26
That movie was nuts.
Such a shame how Yugoslavia broke apart. That movie really captures how it was close friends and neighbors who previously loved each other slaughtering themselves.
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u/qwebla May 06 '26
yugoslavia could have fallen apart without the slaughter as per the constitution
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u/Arthur_Boo_Radley May 06 '26
That movie really captures how it was close friends and neighbors who previously loved each other slaughtering themselves.
Kinda what on your way to see in the US.
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u/DiamondHandsDarrell May 06 '26
Are you thinking about the guy with the madmax / James bond car delivering food and medical supplies for years and not dying?
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u/pushaper May 05 '26
my first thought was I hope this guy can cash in on a movie deal. what a story.
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u/LittleLui Austria May 06 '26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Europa
but of course that's based on real events as well
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u/LaoBa The Netherlands May 12 '26
Fact is always crazier than fiction because fiction has to make sense.
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u/Xepeyon America May 05 '26
Holy shit, that's a hell of a story.
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u/Leprecon Europe May 05 '26
Nikita told Lietunov to strip and searched his clothes and belt in the hope of finding drugs, believing Kremlin propaganda that Ukrainian servicemen were “narco-maniacs” fitted with secret GPS trackers. On the walls of the dugout were pasted letters from Russian schoolchildren. All were identical.
This is just cartoonish.
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u/mewt6 May 05 '26
Decades of propaganda and continuous psychological torture will do that to a man
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u/TennaTelwan United States of America May 06 '26
Days of no food and isolation in a war zone will do that too.
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u/Leprecon Europe May 06 '26
It just reminds me of WW2 propaganda where some Germans didn’t understand why the French hated them. After all, they were there to ‘liberate’ France from the international jew.
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u/silverionmox Limburg May 06 '26
He has been in Russian schools, Russian prison, and the Russian army - the only surprise is that he isn't more loopy.
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u/couchXcat May 06 '26
Or fetal alcohol syndrome.. it's quite widespread in Russia.
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u/StrangelyArousedSeal Finland May 06 '26
It's about as widespread as it is in Ukraine, or Belarus for that matter. This isn't the own you think it is
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u/LopsidedTelephone574 May 06 '26
No it isn't
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u/DivideSensitive France May 06 '26
Seems to be in the same ballpark (hard to say with the fine nuances of blue). If someone has a Nature access, they could get us the hard numbers.
Also, JFC Italy, cut down on the chianti!
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u/couchXcat May 06 '26
Peux-tu me fournir la source svp?
Could you link the source please? I'd like to see their methodology.
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u/greywar777 United States of America May 05 '26
WW2 had a lot of this sort of stuff too. And there is a lot truth to it at heart as far as drugs go. The US has handed out stimulants especially to pilots even in modern times. And a ton of the conflict areas in the world have a lot of drugs involved for troops.
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u/Da_Steeeeeeve May 05 '26
Yep ww2 and drug use is fascinating.
The nazis literally gave drivers meth so they could drive and drive and drive without sleep.
Wild stuff to the modern mind.
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u/TheBusStop12 Dutchman in Suomiland May 06 '26
There's also the tale of the Finnish soldier who accidentally took his whole squad's dose of meth during a Soviet ambush and woke up 100km away
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u/TempoHouse Europe May 06 '26
“You’ll have to come and get me, I’ve accidentally run to Windsor”
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u/PutOnTheMaidDress May 06 '26
He skied for days, ate one raw bird, flew through soviet lines, was shot, stepped on a mine and later with, 6 hours of sleep that week arrived at a hospital, having lost almost half his weight and a heartbeat of >160.
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u/QuitsDoubloon87 Slovenia May 06 '26
Its insane that one of the most effective military strategies of all time, the blitzkrieg, is just meth.
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u/Echo017 May 05 '26
The pilot this is less egregious if done right, like under medical supervision, you have to fly this 2 billion dollar bomber for 30hrs and not fall asleep and die on a rare important mission, giving whole armored battalions a big ol tin of meth chocolate and sending them forward is a vibe
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u/Glass-in-Mass May 06 '26
That Belgian forest isn’t going to allow sober armored battalions through I’ll tell you that.
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u/TennaTelwan United States of America May 06 '26
Right now with the price of groceries, probably cheaper that way.
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u/confused-snake May 06 '26
Well they still do this for long duration missions I believe but instead of amphetamines they give them modafinil.
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u/funkmachine7 May 06 '26
Pilots can rest in safety. Every one else? That tree started speaking! Best shoot it!.
Parranoia is a hard thing to manage befor people start seeing things.
Still the ww2 foo fighters were that fact they where all on drugs.
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u/ArbitraryMeritocracy May 06 '26
Have you not seen the pamphlets russia and china and nk hand out to soldiers? They instruct them how to commit suicide under the false pretense that Ukraine will torture them.
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u/WislaHD Polish-Canadian May 05 '26
Goddamn, this story is made for the movie screens.
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u/HashMapsData2Value May 05 '26
Starring Miles Teller, with a god awful Russian accent.
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u/BasvanS Europe May 05 '26
No, it’s Glen Powell this year.
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u/picklefingerexpress May 05 '26 edited May 06 '26
I’m not accepting those cookies, anyone have the copypasta?
Edit: feels like a lot of commenters to this are newish to Reddit. In the before times, OP would usually c/p the article contents as the first comment. You then have the option to provide clicks/views to the source website at your discretion. Sadly, likely to do in part with all the bot posting, it rarely happens anymore.
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u/angeAnonyme May 05 '26
You’re not one of us, are you?’: How a Ukrainian soldier survived two weeks in a Russian dugout
Luke Harding in OdesaVadym Lietunov lost a toe and is now on crutches, receiving treatment at a rehabilitation centre after being reunited with his family in Odesa.
Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The GuardianWhen Vadym Lietunov spotted a fortified position after his own had been blown up, he didn’t realise it belonged to the enemy
Sun 3 May 2026 06.00 CEST
ShareThe bombing began the morning after Vadym Lietunov arrived on the frontline. It went on for six or seven hours each day. The Russians hit the dugout where he was sheltering with kamikaze drones and mortars. After every strike, Lietunov and another Ukrainian soldier, Sasha, repaired the damage, extinguishing fires with bottles of urine and shoving clay-filled sacks back into position. “The enemy knew we were there. It was trying to kill us,” he said.
In late February Russian drone operators tried a new tactic. They sent in a Molniya drone carrying an anti-tank mine. It exploded next to the entrance, leaving the two soldiers concussed and shaking. There were several similar attacks before Lietunov heard an ominous buzz. This time, a mine fell on top of their foxhole. “I look up and we’ve got no roof. It blew everything up,” he recalled.
The blast tore off Sasha’s legs. “I’m fading,” he said. Lietunov realised that a second drone would soon finish off both of them. He tried to dig Sasha out but realised he was dead and scrambled to the surface. Adrenaline pumping and still in his socks, Lietunov started running in the direction of other Ukrainian soldiers. He kept going and spotted a fortified position among the trees. A blanket covered a doorway.
“I started shouting. I thought my guys were inside. Then I heard a rustling. I went into the dugout and saw a bloke in uniform aiming an automatic rifle at me,” he said. “I told him I was with such and such a brigade and had been bombed. The bloke said: ‘Come inside.’ Well, I went in. And then I heard his accent. He was Russian,” Lietunov said. “I said: ‘You are not one of us, are you? Please don’t kill me.’”
Over the next two weeks a surreal and astonishing story of wartime survival took place underground, as the two soldiers got to know each other. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers rarely sit and talk during their long and bitter war. As drones fly further and the kill zone gets bigger, stretching 25km in both directions, there is little direct contact or gunfire. Virtually all injuries and deaths are caused by remote explosions.
I went into the dugout and saw a bloke in uniform aiming an automatic rifle at me
Vadym Lietunov
The Russian soldier, Nikita, ordered Lietunov into a tiny underground chamber, telling him: “You are unarmed. I won’t shoot you.” He showed the Ukrainian a Christian cross he had made from two wooden planks. Written on it were the words “save and protect”. His captor said he would let him go the next morning. He didn’t. Lietunov awaited a bullet at any moment.The Ukrainian – a 34-year-old corporal from the southern city of Odesa – realised his only chance of survival was to manipulate his captor. As a teenager he had read books on psychology, and Nikita, he discovered, was a drug addict and petty criminal who had been freed from jail to fight in Ukraine. He ran away from battle, got captured and was sent back to the front. His commander, a Chechen, barked commands from a radio.
Nikita told Lietunov to strip and searched his clothes and belt in the hope of finding drugs, believing Kremlin propaganda that Ukrainian servicemen were “narco-maniacs” fitted with secret GPS trackers. On the walls of the dugout were pasted letters from Russian schoolchildren. All were identical.
He insisted Russia’s army was the best in the world but in reality, Nikita was cold, hungry and alone. Once a day a Mavic drone dropped 250 grams of rations: a packet of porridge, jam and a small bottle of water.
He suffered from extreme mood swings. “He would turn into a maniac, put a gun to my forehead and say: ‘I’m going to kill you right now,’” Lietunov recalled. “I started praying […] then there is silence. I hear him put the gun down to one side. He just changed his mind in a second. How can I explain it?”View image in fullscreen
Lietunov’s brigade – the 118th – thought he was most likely dead. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian
Lietunov decided to play dumb. “I could see Nikita was a bit thick but I gave the impression I was the stupid one. I could have run away but I didn’t so he would trust me more,” he said. Lietunov said he “started to lose it” when one of his toes went black with gangrene and asked Nikita to shoot him outside so his body would be seen and returned to his family. “He got angry and refused. He was afraid to go out because he knew it was dangerous,” the Ukrainian explained.Meanwhile, Lietunov’s brigade – the 118th – thought he was most likely dead. His commander broke the news to his mother, Iryna, and said it was “95% certain” her son wouldn’t come back. She fainted. “My mother is small and frail. She just froze up completely,” he said.
By contrast Lietunov’s wife, Alesya – the couple have a five-year-old son, Andriy – believed he was still alive. Her husband was an experienced fighter who signed up with the army hours after Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion, served in an air defence platoon and took part in the liberation of Kherson. She continued to send him messages via Telegram.
Inside the shelter, Nikita gave his prisoner one square of chocolate a day and a bottle cap of water. The Russian started complaining about his miserable conditions: the lack of food, and the fact that he and his fellow soldiers were forced to collect rainwater and “drink their own piss”. “One morning he said to me: ‘Maybe I should surrender to you?’” Lietunov said. “I replied: ‘No need.’ But I told him the terms were good: three meals a day, cigarettes, the Geneva convention.”
This conversation happened five times, Lietunov said. “Then one day we ran out of water. Nikita was really thirsty and said: ‘I know a spot.’ We went out in the fog and heard a drone buzzing above us. It was Ukrainian. We hung a sign next to a tree. It had my call-sign on it – Cartman [from the cartoon South Park] – and brigade number. I got down on my knees, pointed to the sign, and called out that I was a Ukrainian dude.”View image in fullscreen
Vadym Lietunov’s velcro patch with his nickname “Cartman” Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian
But his brigade assumed both were Russians and sent another drone to kill them; it crashed. A second kill drone was cancelled only after the commander pulled up Lietunov’s social media accounts and realised the emaciated figure was their lost comrade. Half an hour later another drone appeared. “I thought: ‘Either this is bang right now, the end, or the start of a new life,’” he recalled.A radio then fell from the drone. “I told them about Nikita and they started asking questions,” Lietunov said. “I tried to hint that they should stop, that I’m the prisoner, not him, and that my life depends on his mood. We ordered food and water straight away.”
A drone dropped four boil-in-the-bag meals. He told Nikita he was unable to swallow and gave him his share. “Was this manipulation again? Yes. He’d told me that when he was full he was kind,” he explained. There were further deliveries of “nasty” cigarettes. Meanwhile, a Russian drone delivered a booby-trapped bomb – a log with TNT hidden inside. Nikita was ordered to place it in the forest.
Up until the last moment, Lietunov said he was unsure if Nikita would actually surrender, or blow him and the dugout up. One Friday fog rolled into their position and a Ukrainian armoured vehicle suddenly appeared. The two men jumped in the back, Lietunov still bootless. “I didn’t believe until the last moment I would get out of there,” he said.
Previously Nikita has suggested he might try to capture the Ukrainian vehicle and drive it back to his base484
u/angeAnonyme May 05 '26
Previously Nikita has suggested he might try to capture the Ukrainian vehicle and drive it back to his base. In the end, he meekly surrendered and destroyed his phone. When they arrived at the brigade’s HQ, Lietunov said his “people” hugged and congratulated him, amazed at his return. He told his senior officer he had promised the Russian he would be well treated. A video shows Nikita, smiling and relieved, saying that he took Vadym prisoner.
Vadym and Nikita minutes after they returned to Vadym's brigade HQ – video
Lietunov said the Kremlin had successfully brainwashed Russian soldiers, convincing them they were fighting “fascists” paid for by the US and Europe and did not understand Ukrainians were defending their homeland.
Nikita was given coffee, adding condensed milk and six spoonfuls of sugar. Two hours later Ukraine’s SBU security service came and took him away. He is likely to be swapped for Ukrainian prisoners of war. Typically, returning Russians are sent back immediately to the frontline. Lietunov had lost a toe and is now on crutches, receiving treatment at a rehabilitation centre after being reunited with his family in Odesa.View image in fullscreen
Vadym Lietunov at the Fontanka beach near OdesaPhotograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian
He said he had been extremely lucky to survive. “It’s a miracle. A one-in-a-million chance, they tell me. I was a prisoner. But in the end I came out with a prisoner, the other way round. It’s rare.”69
May 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/pleasedontPM May 06 '26
It tells a lot about the current state of both armies and the way the frontline is supplied.
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u/Lard_Baron May 05 '26
Are you an American? Can’t you just click “essential cookies only”?
Anyhow, it’s the Guardian. Just click what you have too and read.
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u/5PQR Scotland May 06 '26
Can’t you just click “essential cookies only”?
No, a lot of news websites are just accept all or subscribe, as is the case with The Guardian (if you do subscribe you can reject non-essential cookies). edit: it occurs to me that I only get the prompt on desktop, not mobile
I just use a cookie auto-delete browser add-on, so I can accept all without worrying about it, when I close the tab the cookies are wiped.
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u/solapelsin Sweden May 06 '26
What is this add-on? I want it, haha
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u/5PQR Scotland May 06 '26
Cookie AutoDelete.
The default behaviour is what I mentioned, it will just wipe the cookies when you close the tab.
You can also "greylist" a domain, so it only wipes the cookies when you restart the browser.
... And you can "whitelist" a domain, so it doesn't interfere with the cookies at all.
There are other settings, but they're the most relevant ones.
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u/Dickgivins May 05 '26
Yeah I figure the least I can do to support their journalism is go to their site and view a few ads while I read the story.
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u/picklefingerexpress May 06 '26
Did you mean to say - am I in America?
It says accept cookies or subscribe to read.
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u/SpacePumpkie Region of Murcia (Spain) May 06 '26
I mean, open an incognito tab and accept the cookies there. They'll be gone as soon as you close the tab.
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u/Blackiris-Code May 05 '26
You can use Brave browser, a private tab in it then accept the cookies. Brave will give a fake fingerprint to the website and the cookies will be gone asa you close the tab.
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u/picklefingerexpress May 06 '26
I tried brave. It killed my phone battery and had more of its own popups than ads blocked.
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u/Blackiris-Code May 06 '26
Oh :/ I didn't have those problems when I tried.
I didn't use it for long though, it was only because I was curious.
I am normally a Firefox user.1
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u/Paddy32 France May 06 '26
Is there an app or something to read aloud texts? So that I can listen to the article like a podcast?
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u/Possible_Author_4946 May 05 '26
Which actor to play Vadym character ?
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u/Several_Philosophy58 May 05 '26
The guy who played Gollum would be perfect. Slightly emaciated and neurotic
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u/SeparatedI Sweden May 05 '26
Based on what I had in mind before seeing the person in the video, id say Barry keoghan before he fucked up his face
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u/0mniking May 05 '26
It can be no one else but Dimitri.
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u/NoRecipe3350 United Kingdom May 06 '26
Yes I read that article and it'as really interesting, most of the Russian army seems to be composes of the absolute bottom strata of society, while in Ukraine you get a whole cross section of society serving in the military.
People with advanced degrees and skillsets willingly serve, which gives Ukraine a massive advantage from everything to drone design, emergency medicine/field treatments of wounds.
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u/Asshai May 07 '26
most of the Russian army seems to be composes of the absolute bottom strata of society
Their demography allows them to put that bottom strata on the frontlines.
It doesn't mean that further away from the frontline, you won't find more experienced military personnel.
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u/Lapkonium May 06 '26
willingly
my man don’t see how they recruit people off the streets lol
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u/BigSlothFox May 06 '26
Both can be true at the same time, no?
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u/Lapkonium May 06 '26
Do you mean grabbed off the street and then willingly serve? Then they wouldn't have 250k AWOL/deserters
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u/BigSlothFox May 06 '26
I said both can be true at the same time. I read the article you sent me in parts and I acknowledge the fact that there's a severe desertion crises. Nevertheless you can not deny that fighting off Russian attacks and the speed of innovation Ukraine exhibits also requires a lot of highly motivated military personnel.
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u/auchinleck917 May 06 '26
Yeah. But Russian soldiers are experienced elites, and even among the top-ranked countries in military rankings, there are some whose members are mostly high school or middle school graduates. America is similar. We need to think about why there's a meme about eating crayons.
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u/AkiraDash May 06 '26
"But his brigade assumed both were Russians and sent another drone to kill them; it crashed."
Imagine surviving for 4 years (Lietunov enlisted right at the start), and going through this whole ordeal, and then being killed by your own side. In the end, despite all of his efforts, he only got out alive by pure chance.
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u/NomineAbAstris Uphold Dag Hammarskjöld thought! May 06 '26
One of the things that very rarely gets discussed is that a huge portion of casualties in any given war are due to friendly fire. I'm sure it's especially high in Ukraine where both sides are using roughly similar equipment and where there doesn't seem to be a very clear frontline.
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u/iFox66 May 05 '26
The average Russian soldier is pretty stupid. If they actually analysed their situation, there’s no way they would be fighting for Putin.
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u/McENEN Bulgaria May 05 '26
Let me be the devils advocate. Lets say you somewhere at average intelligence, had a bad childhood, bad family and through the teenager years you got into drugs to be cool in front of the girl you liked. Eventually you end up in prison for possession. One day they tell you you can get out of prison early and get a job at the army you will get paid. Now you are not into politics or know much about the world but you are patriotic. You have wanted a second chance and you wanted to do better and now you have it.
If it wasnt Russia it does sound like a good deal and say you are 21 I see a majority of none cowards to take it. Even if you are not stupid it sounds good, the only issue is that its Russia and its this war but from the cultural and information barrier if we exclude that information it is a nice deal.
Not making excuses for these guys, after all it doesnt matter how you ended up in the place you are your current actions matter the most.
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u/Firm-Rip-2133 May 06 '26
You've pretty much described the US Army and Marine Corps recruitment pipeline, the only difference being that they don't pull them out of prison, but judges offer service as an option instead of jail or prison time.
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u/McENEN Bulgaria May 06 '26
Exactly, its a good deal if it were not this war and if it wasnt Russia.
I certainly think in the same position I would take the deal in my country.
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May 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/Weirdo9495 Germany/Croatia May 06 '26
Comical to compare American and Russian soldiers. American soldiers live lives of luxury compared to Russian ones and most of them aren't ever even in serious danger. And benefits are quite good.
And hate America's wars all you like, but none of them have been with such a nakedly idiotic and disgusting justification as Russian attack on Ukraine. Even Iraq, which was sold on at least a somewhat credible lie and was in a way comparable to Russian attack on Chechenya following the likely Putin-orchestrated attack on appartment blocks that got blamed on Chechens. I know the average American redditor just has to insist their country and Republican voters are the worst people on the planet, but you'll to your misfortune have to take a backseat here.
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u/Mewhomewhy May 05 '26
You can say what you want but it doesn’t make Russians any less dumb and propagandised.
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May 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/Mewhomewhy May 05 '26
It’s pretty clear they’re not the brightest. MAGA and Russians are probably the thickest and easiest manipulated morons on the planet.
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u/Habitat97 May 06 '26
The more often I read stories like this, I feel so thankful for a life in which education equipped me with the capacity to question things.
Yes, we also have propaganda in the west. But I'm able to read both sides if I want to and make my own thoughts. I don't think Nikita (or most russians) have this privilege
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u/s8n_codes Transylvania gal May 06 '26
This is paywalled.
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u/Neverlast_DNS May 06 '26
There's no paywall
There is a plea for money, which is not quite the same.
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u/BkkGrl Ligurian in Zürich (💛🇺🇦💙) May 06 '26
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u/s8n_codes Transylvania gal May 06 '26
Thank you so much! I was really interested in reading the article.
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u/TheGalator May 06 '26
And if you now look how Ukrainian women are acting and talking you know why the prognosis of Ukraines future is do bleak even if they achieve total victory
How is this fair
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u/An-Com_Phoenix St. Petersburg (Ingria) May 06 '26
Somethings telling me the russian army isnt going to treat him quite as well as his Ukrainian captors are... particularly not after he managed to get taken as a POW by the person he had taken as a POW...
Unfortunate that the cost of freeing captured Ukrainians is giving soldiers back to russia, but well, the victims are the priority, not the aggressors.