A senior Russian army officer was recorded ordering his troops to decapitate a Ukrainian prisoner of war. The order was reportedly given by the field commander of the 2nd assault company of Russia’s 155th Marine brigade.
Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) intercepted the radio conversation between the commander and his troops. The short intercept was then posted to social media by HUR, where it was widely distributed. In the recording, the commander can be heard shouting: “Cut off the head, impale it on a pike, throw it the f**k away.”
“For inhumane torture and barbaric killings of captured Ukrainian military personnel and civilians, the 155th Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces has become one of Vladimir Putin’s favourite units,” the Ukrainian intelligence agency said.
The brigade is currently fighting in Ukraine’s northeast Sumy region, and has previously released a video showing the decapitated head of a Ukrainian soldier impaled on a pole.
In the short video clip posted to social media last August, a Russian soldier stands in front of a camera with his face covered by a neck scarf. He identifies his unit as the 155th Marine Brigade, a brigade-sized formation of the Russian Naval Infantry that is part of the Pacific fleet.
The Russian soldier says: “The dead from the 155th brigade of the Pacific Fleet greet you, ‘Khokhly’. You have made an unforgivable mistake by setting your dirty pig hooves on our holy land. Today some of you were blown away by our attack.” Pointing to the severed head, he adds: “This will happen every time we meet.”
The brigade has also been accused of committing war crimes, specifically killing civilians in Bucha, Irpen and Gostomel.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the 155th, inflicting massive casualties on the elite unit, forcing it to be rebuilt on numerous occasions.
In January, Ukrainian paratroopers from the 82nd Separate Air Assault Bukovina brigade wiped out a unit from the 155th during an operation in the Kursk region. “The hunt for these b***ards who kill prisoners of war was successful and will continue in the future,” the paratroopers said in a statement.
“Bukovina’s paratroopers are ready to send all war criminals from the 155th brigade to hell.”