Putin's soldiers 'have fingers cut off and are sent to die without ammunition by sadistic Russian commanders'

By WILL STEWART and OLIVIA ALLHUSEN, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 15:54, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 15:57, 12 August 2026 Sickening new allegations claim Russian soldiers are being beaten, electrocuted and even mutilated by their own commanders before being dispatched on near-suicidal assaults. Disturbing footage circulating online shows troops apparently tied to trees with adhesive tape. Another soldier is forced to excavate a pit already considerably deeper than his own height. In a further vile clip, a quivering soldier is ordered to display an injured hand after his tormentor allegedly used cutters to sever a finger. The terrified fighter refuses but the Putin commander throws the dismembered finger at him and asks, 'Think you asked for a drink, didn't you?' The officer then appears to urinate into a cup and tells him to 'drink'. The footage emerged after Ukraine hit Putin with one of its deadliest single attacks of the war on Monday, killing 13 Russians and wounding dozens more in an oil facility attack. The material was highlighted by Ukrainian military journalist Yuriy Butusov, who said it had initially been published by an unnamed 'enemy' outlet. The most grotesque accusations implicate Russia's 36th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, part of the Vostok group of forces fighting in Ukraine. Pictured: a quivering soldier is ordered to display an injured hand after his tormentor allegedly used cutters to sever a finger The terrified fighter refuses but the Putin commander throws the dismembered finger at him Soldiers from the unit reportedly complained that commanders had established unofficial 'penal battalions' in which men could be savagely punished for minor infractions. Troops risked being sent into combat without ammunition -or subjected to beatings, electric shocks and punches from fellow servicemen, according to the account highlighted by Butusov. 'Half of them have backs covered in scars,' the account alleged. 'The wounded and maimed are being sent to slaughter without support.' One photo shows bloodied wounds to the legs after a brutal beating. Soldiers who had been tortured and subsequently disappeared were recorded either as missing in action or as 'Cargo 200' - Russian military terminology for troops killed in action, it was claimed. The report named four alleged victims: Vasily Vasilyevich Ivansky, Yevgeny Andreyevich Fomishin, Alexey Olegovich Chebotaryov and Anton Vitalyevich Yefimov. Ivansky was alleged to have had his fingers cut off in medieval-style abuse. Some of the named men were said to have been killed, while the fate of others remains unknown. A person matching Ivansky's full name also appears in a public debt record from Russia's Khanty-Mansi autonomous region in Siberia. Attempts by soldiers or their relatives to alert the Russian authorities were allegedly stopped within the brigade's chain of command. The complaints identified a brigade commander named Karayev, branded 'The Butcher' by some soldiers. This matches the notorious Putin commander Col. Kurabek Karayev, 36, accused by his men of forcing subordinates to 'finish off wounded Russian soldiers and kill those who refused to take part in assaults and could not afford to buy their way out'. He was made a Hero of Russia by Putin's defence minister Andrei Belousov nine months ago. Disturbing footage circulating online shows troops apparently tied to trees with adhesive tape Another soldier is forced to excavate a pit already considerably deeper than his own height Footage attributed online to the 36th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade shows men apparently taped upright against trees, showing wounds consistent with torture. Another video allegedly from the 85th Motorised Rifle Brigade shows a soldier at the bottom of a deep pit as an unseen commander berates and repeatedly orders him to continue digging. 'Oh, so you're taking a break,' the voice says. 'Why are you taking a break? Start digging, fast! 'You don't go on combat missions. You don't want to dig a hole? 'What did you take the money for? 'Move it- grab that second shovel in your teeth!' The abuse continues as the exhausted man resumes digging. A social-media account that circulated the footage alleged that soldiers from the 85th Brigade had repeatedly appealed for help over extortion and mistreatment. 'According to them, commanders continue to take money from the soldiers,' the post claimed, 'and instead of order, the men face pressure, humiliation and bullying.' The precise motives for the brutal punishments in these cases are not clear. Reports of Russian commanders imprisoning soldiers in pits or basements, beating alleged refuseniks and sending poorly equipped punishment units into assaults have circulated repeatedly during the war, highlighting allegations of brutality within Putin's forces. The footage and accompanying allegations cannot be independently verified amid the war, and it remains unclear when or where the clips were recorded. But similar footage has emerged throughout the war, with previous videos appearing to show Russian commanders subjecting their own troops to brutal punishments on the frontlines. In March, harrowing footage compiled by the Daily Mail revealed the sadistic treatment Putin's soldiers are enduring in Ukraine. Graphic videos showed commanders beating and electrocuting their own troops, denying them food, forcing them to crawl through mud, tying them naked to trees in sub-zero temperatures and even making them fight to the death. Other footage showed injured soldiers on crutches being sent back to the frontline. In separate clips, troops sheltering in Ukrainian dugouts filmed themselves surviving on stolen potatoes because their own army had not supplied them with food. Earlier this year, Russian soldiers also revealed the brutality of their commanders, describing executions of their own men, 'meat storm' missions and horrific torture methods as punishment for fleeing the front line. Speaking in a BBC documentary called The Zero Line: Inside Russia's War, several soldiers recounted how they saw fellow troops killed on the spot for refusing orders. One ex-soldier named Dima said he saw the bodies of 20 men lying in a pit after being shot, also known as being 'zeroed' in military slang for executing one's own troops. Others described men being starved, electrocuted, urinated on and then sent into 'meat storm' battle missions unarmed. The latest allegations come amid another punishing week for Putin's forces, following one of Kyiv's deadliest single attacks of the war. A Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, in Russia's Tatarstan region, killing 13 Russians.  A child was among the victims, a further 39 were wounded in the strike on Nizhnekamsk, the city's mayor Radmir Belyayev announced on Monday. The region's oil refinery, understood to be one of Russia's most technologically advanced, was hit in the long-range attack, according to state media. Long-distance drones travelled almost 800 miles to strike the giant facility. It came as Russian attacks on Ukraine intensified over the weekend. More than 200 missiles and drones rained down on Ukraine, in a blitz on Saturday night. The coastal town of Odesa bore the brunt, with a dozen injured and the city's largest sports arena, the Chornomorets Stadium, damaged.