Russia in Ukraine

Close regular readers of The Guardian have a fairly good idea of how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been disastrous for Russia as well as for Ukraine, but it’s still rivetting to have that confirmed from the inside. yesterday’s edition carried a detailed, articulate statement from Pavel Filatyev, a former Russian paratrooper who’d gone public about his disenchantment with the campaign. Part of this is old-fashioned moral outrage - “I don’t see justice in this war, I don’t see truth here.”

That leads to scepticism about military commanders and Putin himself, which he says is widely shared though not openly expressed. But the most convincing, depressing account is of the effect on the soldiers themselves. “Like savages we ate everything there: oats, porridge, jam, honey, coffee. We didn’t give a damn about anything, we’d already been pushed to the limit. Most had spent a month in the fields with no hint of comfort, a shower or normal food. What a wild state you can drive people to by not giving any thought to the fact that they need to sleep, eat and wash.”

So basic, but utterly convincing, and it helps to explain some of the brutality that’s gone on. Guardian articles, of course, don’ change the world, and Filatyev’s revelations will put him at risk without changing Putin’s mind, but it’s still good to have this amount of honesty and detail.