Russian army horror as officers 'torture and execute' soldiers amid huge surge in dissent

Russian commanders have been accused of torturing and executing soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine, as morale plummets among frontline troops. The shocking claims were revealed in an investigation carried out by the independent Russian outlet Verstka.

Amid growing dissent among Putin's troops, senior officers are resorting to ever more brutal methods to force their soldiers to fight. Testimony from witnesses reveals that refuseniks are being shot or sent on suicide missions, as punishment for their dissent. The report revealed that commanders regularly deploy so-called barrier troops behind the frontline to prevent soldiers from deserting.

The barrier troops are authorised to shoot any soldier trying to escape the slaughter on the frontlines. Their bodies are later dumped in shallow graves or rivers, and the dead men are registered as killed in action.

Officers have even used drones to "finish off" wounded and retreating soldiers, showing their men no mercy. Drone operators are ordered to drop grenades on their comrades to disguise the killings as battlefield strikes.

Some dissenting soldiers have been forced into gladiatorial contests, where they are forced to fight to the death. Videos of these brutal fights have been shared on social media channels for public consumption

In one instance from May, two shirtless men are forced into a pit and told by a voice of-camera: "Commander Kama basically said whoever beats the other one to death gets out of the pit."

As they begin to fight, the voice taunts them, saying: "Finish him off already, what are you waiting for?" - until one collapses motionless on the ground.

The scale of the slaughter on the battlefields was vividly revealed by a Russian soldier fighting in Chasiv Yar in the east of the Ukraine.

In a video post, he said that new recruits sent to the front die almost immediately and that over 90% of his own unit had been killed or injured.

He described fields strewn with rotting corpses and said soldiers were under orders not to collect the ID tags of the dead troops, so that officials would not have to pay compensation to the families.