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Why Russians are fighting against Russia: ‘Putin has not only ruined Ukraine, he’s ruined my country’ Sam Kiley meets Russian volunteers in Ukraine’s army near the southern front line who explain why they turned on Vladimir Putin – and how they’re happy to kill their countrymen Saturday 25 October 2025 14:44 BST From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Working as an agent for Ukraine and attacking Russia’s railways was pretty easy, says Lazzy – a Russian fighting against his own country. “It’s not that complicated. Anyone in Russia can freely buy gasoline – for now, while some refineries still work – and set the railway on fire,” he explains. “Of course, you need to prepare the exit routes. To plan the operation, so to speak. You can’t just go for a walk and decide to do it. First, recon, then action. But in fact, anyone can do it.” The saboteur burned “several” railway-switching and electrical systems in arson attacks in Russia’s Volga region. The truth, though, is that it was dangerous and ate away at his nervous system. Which is why he walked across Russia’s border and joined Ukraine’s army to fight against Vladimir Putin. For the last year, he has been a frontline soldier battling in the shattered rubble of what is now known as the “dead zone”, because it’s so thinly populated by soldiers from both sides, all hiding from enemy drones – with occasional sneak attacks in person. “I think it’s easier for me here. Because in Russia, I constantly felt fear for my life,” he says. “Here in Ukraine, FSB and GRU [secret service] networks are not so strong. In Russia, it’s much more dangerous. Also, [in Russia] there are many people who support the regime. Say the wrong word and they will rat on you.” Lazzy chose to fight Putin’s regime because of what he saw as cronyism, corruption and the destruction of democracy: “Russia must have a future.” As he talks, his face is hidden and he’s known only by his military callsign. The Independent met him just a short drive from the front lines where he’s fighting in Ukraine’s south. “Here, in Ukraine, I can defend myself with weapons. Yes, it’s scary on the positions. They want to kill you. But it’s clear: either you or them.” He is part of Ukraine’s Freedom of Russia Legion, which operates under the control of Kyiv’s military intelligence services like other foreign volunteer units. The legion claims to field several hundred men. They are all Russians. In Moscow they would be executed as traitors. In Ukraine, they have fought in Sumy province, lost heavily in the bitter battle for Bakhmut, and say they have been involved in driving back recent Russian assaults on the front line of the southern battlefields. Ukraine has stepped up its campaign both inside occupied territory and in Russia itself. In its most spectacular strikes, Ukraine managed to disable Russian bombers in the covert Operation Spiderweb, involving multiple targets and agents on the ground. Russian refineries and power stations are regularly attacked by Ukraine’s new long-range drones. But the Freedom of Russia Legion has eyes on defending Ukraine locally. And then fighting in Russia to topple Putin altogether. The latter would be welcomed by Kyiv but is not a stated aim. Ceasar, a veteran Russian fighter in Ukraine’s army, began his opposition against Putin with what he calls “terrorist attacks”. For at least the last three-and-a-half years he has been in Ukraine’s army. He is driven by religious fervour and monarchist dreams of the return of a tsar to Russia. Originally from Sochi, he says he does not worry about killing fellow Russians. “I do not feel bad for killing my own citizens, because they’re doing very bad things here and I saw how they killed civilians, how they raped, how they robbed and they want to destroy Ukraine. Putin has ruined not only Ukraine, he's ruined also my country,” says Ceasar. He is armed, like Lazzy, with a modern M16-type rifle, originally an American design. It is rapidly replacing the AK-47 in Ukraine’s armoury. Ceasar describes the reality on the front lines of a war he has chosen to join. “There’s not a lot of military personnel at the front like it was two or three years ago. We are all dispersed. We are now about two or three men, at most, sitting in a bunker. Because if we will put there, a dozen men, they will be killed,” he says. “It’s very dangerous to move in and move out. It’s the most dangerous part of the operation.” Soldiers are forced to spend weeks, sometimes months, in foxholes and bunkers, trying to survive constant artillery and drone attacks. Referring to Lazzy, he continues: “On the last operation he was about 45 days on the position. I was about three weeks. It’s really hard. “Every day, every time you dig in, dig in, dig in and again, dig in.” Over the last few weeks, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has been touring the West seeking long-range missiles and air-defence systems. Putin has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure, focusing on energy and transport systems ahead of the winter freeze. Russian troops have also advanced in small bounds at huge cost east of Kharkiv, and already committed murder in Pokrovsk against local civilians left behind by Ukrainian withdrawal. But drone warfare has kept the Russians back. Ukraine’s problem is that drones cannot fly in high winds, rain, fog or when it is snowing. Putin’s forces are likely to exploit bad winter weather and attempt to break through Ukrainian lines when drones are grounded. That is when Lazzy and Ceasar will face their toughest test.
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Weekends are a lot nicer when you're not tied to the TV. You can actually DO shit.
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He now leads the nation in: Punt return yards Punt return average Punt return TDs
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“Article” doing a lot of work in your posts. I’ve only seen the single-sentence tweet. Has Russini elaborated in other x posts or is there a fleshed out article published by The Atlantic on this?
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Am I on island on the JD Single Malt Sherry Finish? The bottle has zero buzz online and word of mouth. Always on the shelf. I love the stuff. Most crushable JD bottle in their regular lineup.
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Arch is a tough motherfucker. I wanted him pulled yesterday, but he proved me wrong. He deserves to be QB1 when he is healthy.
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It doesn’t matter if it was double coverage, he beat it and the ball was perfectly thrown. It bounced off of Livingstone’s hands. How about our receivers catch the fucking ball when the QB hits them in the hands, in stride? Seemed to be a problem quite a few times today. Such an easy concept, but seems to be easier for trolls (like the one you responded to) to blame it on the QB
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bigup2dahorns started following Niblett!
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And Notre Dame ended up with the toast of the town. Penn State's pipe dream.
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Arch is out for Vandy. We need to accept that and move on.
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Swamp Tigers are wishcasting Kelly retires. To summarize, they’re poor.
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I'm working on developing my doctoral project now. Any way we could work in something on infectious disease? I'm thinking there may be something there with Ivermectin and antibiotic resistance genes. Why not? Who the fuck needs experimental design and NIH research when you have bullshit?
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Starts getting spicy at the 9 minute mark.
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Wordle [spoilers inevitable but discouraged]
Rudy Rutabaga replied to Prepuce of Doom's topic in Lulz
Wordle 1,590 4/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨⬛🟩⬛⬛ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 -
I don’t see how we win another game
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I need to see a better angle of that play. I couldn’t tell if it was double coverage or just Wingo’a guy leaving his assignment to break on that ball after it was thrown. I want to see where that second defender was and what they were doing right before the ball was thrown.
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Sark is a great head coach. Late stage Mack Brown, Charley Strong, and Tom Herman all failed miserably. Sark revived this program and made it relevant again for the first time in over a decade. I am not hesitant to say that I badly want him to stay. All of you geniuses on here saying you want him gone know nothing about the game of football and you will be the first morons complaining about the next coach we bring in. This season was always going to be somewhat of a rebuilding year due to the inexperience on the OL. If the media convinced you that this was a NC caliber team, then once again you know nothing about football. The one thing that could not be forseen by anyone, not Sark, not the media, and certainly not you, was the spectacularly bad play of Arch Manning. He is simply a head case, and has nearly single handedly destroyed this program. He is the issue, not the OL, not the play calling, not Sark, just him. I have never seen this site be so wrong about something.
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Texas Recruiting Notes 2026: Boulevard of Broken Bagmen
TheFlyingBoat replied to texifornia's topic in 🤫$9.95🤫
Gunnar Helm is a TE not a Guard, silly. -
Not talking to the position he coaches apparently. Ive never seen him once? Saw this Mike Bimonte cat at least twice. Was kinda nice not seeing our QB sitting alone and staring off into space like he has PTSD when things werent going well.
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Wordle 1,590 5/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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I mean, as you should. You more or less didn’t say anything other than his head isn’t in it this year. Because ~reasons~.
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The Athletic Scoops Sark interested in NFL Jobs
UpperWestside replied to TexasMan's topic in Football
You keep your hands off our guy! Dillingham is really good and still growing as a coach. We’re still a couple of recruiting/portal classes away from being a serious challenger once in the playoffs. We’re out on this year thanks to our QB being hurt, but man I have to hand it to Dillingham for having kept the season together when you quite literally have nothing behind Leavitt when he’s hurt. There are posters on this board that would be as valuable to ASU football as Sims is when he plays. -
They have to answer for their article. I didn’t write it nor source it nor have anything to do with it nor does anyone I know. That wasn’t a surprise to me he might be putting out feelers but the article itself was.
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The Athletic Scoops Sark interested in NFL Jobs
Michael Knight replied to TexasMan's topic in Football
the athletic is the rag that wrote the arch manning bust article
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