russia
Russian soldiers clear an area in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on July 13, 2022. The soldier in this picture is not Pavel Filatyev.Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images
  • The memoir was written by a Russian soldier who fought in Ukraine.

  • The soldiers were so thin that they had to hurt themselves to leave.

  • Filatyev told The Guardian he couldn't stay silent anymore.

In order to escape the war, troops are shooting themselves in the leg and getting a $50,000Payout.

Two weeks ago, a memoir detailing his experience on the front lines of the Ukrainian war was published on the Russian social-media platform. The memoir has been viewed by an Insider.

The memoir is the most detailed account of a Russian soldier fighting in Ukraine so far.

The Russian soldiers are facing a lot of chaos, hunger, and destruction, and they are looking for any way out.

Filatyev wrote that someone shot himself in the limbs in order to get 3 million rubles.

The New York Post and MailOnline reported earlier this year that Russian soldiers were telling their families that they were shooting themselves in the leg in order to go home.

According to a report published in July, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that injured soldiers could get compensation of 3 million roubles, which is equivalent to four years of average salary in Russia.

According to the memoir, Filatyev was a member of the 56th Guards air assault battalion, which was based in the peninsula which Russia seized from Ukraine. The elite of the Russian army is known as the paratroopers.

He was wounded and evacuated from the frontlines in July after fighting in the cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv on the first day of the Russian invasion.

He said it took him weeks to realize there was no war on Russian territory.

Filatyev described Russian troops as "savages" who stole valuables from Ukrainian homes to make more money.

We ate everything there, like savages, but we didn't give a damn about anything. You can drive people to a wild state if you don't think about the fact that they need to sleep, eat and wash.

Insider wasn't able to verify all of Filatyev's story.

According to The Guardian, Filatyev left Russia via an undisclosed route last week.

He told The Guardian that he wrote the memoir because he felt like he had to speak up.

I'm not afraid of fighting in war. Filatyev told The Guardian that he needed to understand that what he was doing was right. I believe that this is failing because the government has taken everything, but also because we don't feel that what we are doing is right.

Russia'sMinistry of Defence did not reply immediately.

Business Insider has an article on it.