- Ukraine shared what it said was an intercepted phone call between a Russian soldier and his wife.
- The Russian soldier complains about a lack of food and water on the front lines, a report says.
A Russian soldier fighting in Ukraine said he was so weak from lack of food and water that he couldn't wear his heavy bulletproof vest, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
A two-minute clip of what appears to be an intercepted phone call was shared by The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine on Thursday.
It said the conversation was between an unidentified Russian soldier and his wife.
"We haven't had food delivered to us for three weeks," the soldier told his wife, according to a translation by the Kyiv Post. "Today is already the seventh day since we have been brought water."
The soldier then shared that he was so weak from the lack of nutrition that he could no longer wear his heavy bulletproof vest on the front line, the report said.
"Fuck it! I'm already taking off my bulletproof vest, I don't have the strength to wear it," he added, according to the Kyiv Post. "What's the difference, it is senseless. The wounded soldiers are not taken out anyway."
The soldier, the report said, also complained that no Russian officials "give a shit at all," adding that his unit has lost around 100 men "in a few days."
"The assault failed. Everything is in the s**t, everyone was killed," he said.
Insider could not independently verify the authenticity of the audio.
It is unclear where exactly the soldier was fighting, though Russia has suffered heavy losses in its attempts to take Avdiivka, a key village in Ukraine's southeastern Donetsk region.
Avdiivka was recaptured by Ukraine in September, but Russia has been attempting to get it back in one of its biggest offensive efforts in months. Strategically, the village offers a gateway to parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia.
The phone call appears to offer new insight into the continued low morale in Russia's military, which has been a problem ever since President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Earlier this month, video footage posted to Facebook by a journalist appears to show Russian troops complaining and cursing about not having enough training, supplies, or food.
"No bullets, no grenades, no pouches, no food, no water. It's a fucking mess!" a Russian soldier said in the video, according to Insider's Natalie Musumeci.
The video appears to show several soldiers huddled around each other in the thick of the woods.
"We were sent here with no training, nothing. They fucked us all over," one of the soldiers also said.