"I can only say thank you for saving my life," - a captured Russian conscript who blew himself up with a grenade in order not to surrender has confirmed that in Russia, soldiers are programmed to commit suicide, being told about the long and painful torture in captivity.

Fyodor, a conscript from St. Petersburg, told a UNIAN journalist how he blew himself up together with a comrade when the Armed Forces of Ukraine approached his position in Russia's Kursk region.

"I took out a grenade. He [his comrade] said, "Let's do it." We hugged each other, threw it on the ground and said some last warm words to each other. The comrade also has a leg wound. At that point, I had already realized three times that I was closer to death. We were afraid to surrender, we didn't know what would happen here. We were afraid that there would be long and painful torture. But considering how it is in reality now, I can only say thank you for saving my life and curing me," he said.

According to Fyodor, he was given first aid by the Ukrainian military. They shared water and cigarettes with the prisoners and brought medicine to the wounded from other dugouts.

📹: Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] yokonzo@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Wait, how exactly did they survive the grenade? Just dumb luck?

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"I took out a grenade. He [his comrade] said, "Let's do it." We hugged each other, threw it on the ground and said some last warm words to each other. The comrade also has a leg wound.

It sounds like they were standing, dropped the grenade at their feet, and were hugging each other. The hug would possibly reduce some damage to center mass, and it sounds like both have injuries to the legs. If the grenade rolled away that would increase survivability. It also sounds like the interviewee took the brunt of the damage.

But don't listen to me, the closest I've come to a grenade is a Chipotle burrito with bad arvo

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If blood is reaching your brain the human body is pretty resilient.

If a trauma patient can make it to a modern hospital while still alive they're probably going to keep them alive.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 months ago

tl;dr yes, dumb luck

[–] djsoren19@yiffit.net 8 points 2 months ago

Well it was presumably a Russian made grenade, maybe it didn't have any fragmentation due to cost cuts. also presumably the Ukrainians were quick to find the two and treat them before they died to blood loss.