Russian Soldier Says He Realised War Was Wrong When His Favorite Boxers Joined Ukraine Army

In the nearly two weeks since Vladamir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine, social media has been flooded with videos of captured Russian soldiers admitting to how wrong they were about that war.

This includes both Russian soldiers captured by the Ukrainian military and civilians.

While the authenticity of these videos cannot be independently verified or if the confessions are forced, there is a recurring theme in these.

AP/ Representational Image

Some of them said that they had no idea that they were going to war with their neighbours, others admitted that they were told that the people of Ukraine who were fed up with their government would welcome the Russian troops.

"I was wrong"

Michael Benson, online Boxing Editor of talkSPORT has shared a video on Twitter showing what appears to be the confession of a captured Russian soldier.

"Literally I'm 100 percent wrong now. Don't judge too harshly.

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"We were told Ukraine is dominated by fascists... Nazis had seized power. We did not know the situation for sure.

The Russian soldier admitted that people like him were fed another narrative and it was difficult to verify.

"When we entered this territory I watched the address of your boxers (Olexander Usyk and Vasily Lomachenko). Back home I always loved watching them.

"They said 'we didn't call you here'. I feel shame that we came to this country."

Incredible video released by officials in Ukraine as a captured Russian soldier tells a press conference that he started to question what he'd been told after seeing his favourite boxers Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko signing up to fight against him¡­ pic.twitter.com/0unQTLSrCU

¡ª Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) March 6, 2022

The soldier is said to be Astakhov Dmitry Mikhailovich, a lieutenant colonel of the Russian National Guard.

Oleksandr Usyk puts country first

World Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk and former champ Vasyl Lomachenko are among the number of Ukrainian sportsmen who have enlisted to defend their country against Russia.

Reuters

Usyk who was scheduled to defend his titles against Britain¡¯s Anthony Joshua in September is currently in a Kyiv bomb shelter after he returned to his homeland and enlist in the Ukrainian capital¡¯s territorial defense unit.

Two former world boxing champions, Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir Klitschko have also taken up arms to fight Russia.

AFP

What other captured Russian soldiers said

Recently, another video of a Russian soldier captured by Ukrainian civilians had gone viral.

In the video, the solder could be seen drinking tea and munching on a pastry given to him by the people who caught him.

The video further shows a woman holding a phone to the Russian soldier, and was reportedly video calling his mother in Russia to tell her son was fine.

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In another video, some captured Russian soldiers can be heard saying that they were 'deceived' and did not realise they were going to invade Ukraine.

They compared themselves to cannot fodder and said that they are all going to die.

From the conversations other videos, it appears that neither they nor their families in Russia were aware of the fact that they were being sent to invade another country.

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