„Bereust du es, dass du töten musstest?“ Auf der Transsibirischen Eisenbahn erzählen russische Soldaten von ihrer Zeit in der Ukraine

As the train speeds toward the Russian Far East, between Novosibirsk and Vladivostok, the brutality of the war in Ukraine is at the center of conversations between soldiers on leave and ‚ordinary‘ passengers.

„So, did you like their gardens? Did you enjoy the grapes and walnuts?“ The question was addressed to Yevgeny (names have been changed), the soldier who, for several days now, had been the center of attention in the third-class carriage of the Trans-Siberian Railway as it sped through the vast expanse somewhere between Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk. The woman in her 50s who called out to the soldier was clearly trying to impress him with her knowledge, or perhaps to create a sense of complicity. She was heading off to take up a seasonal job as a shop assistant in the Krasnoyarsk region, while he was returning from the war in Ukraine.

Yevgeny is 48 years old and has prison tattoos on his knuckles. He spent 26 years in prison and was serving the last of his sentences when he enlisted in the army. He fought for a year and a half in a „Storm Z“ battalion, one of those assault units made up mainly of former inmates and disciplined soldiers, where death rates soar. He survived and is returning to his mother, in a village in the Khabarovsk region. As a free man, he insists: He has an official pardon in his pocket and 1 million rubles (about €11,000).

Yevgeny confirmed that Ukrainian grapes were good. But fruit and cigarettes were about all he could take from houses abandoned by their Ukrainian owners, he complained. „The contract soldiers take whatever they want, even iPads and iPhones. But us, the *zeki* [the prisoners], they search us. The military police watch and threaten us. Bastards.“

This conversation, which made light of the benefits of looting, continued while the other passengers in the train car listened silently from their bunks. Such an exchange is rare: People do not speak openly about the war in Russia, at least not about its less admissible aspects. The risk of being reported is ever-present, and the topic instills fear. Soldiers, or those with a loved one at the front, are often the ones who take the most liberties.

**Read the full article here:** [**https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/04/12/do-you-have-any-regrets-about-having-to-kill-on-trans-siberian-railway-russian-soldiers-recount-time-in-ukraine_6752345_4.html**](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/04/12/do-you-have-any-regrets-about-having-to-kill-on-trans-siberian-railway-russian-soldiers-recount-time-in-ukraine_6752345_4.html)