She even told him to steal a gazebo and send it back to Russia in a phone conversation that was intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence. Vladimir Putin’s forces have been withdrawing from parts of Ukraine, as their initial attack has been frustrated by fierce resistance from their opponents. Reports have emerged of troops stealing from abandoned houses and apartments as they retreat from some of their positions.
Now a recently published phone conversation between a soldier and his wife would appear to back up the allegations of extensive Russian looting in the Russian occupied parts of Ukraine.
The soldier describes how his colleagues are carrying off all they can in bags and that he himself had stolen makeup for his wife and vitamins for himself.
He said: “We’re waiting for everyone to come out and we are the last ones to leave. I, um, stole a little.”
When his wife asked what exactly, he replied: “A little makeup for you.”
She laughed and said: “Well, everything to the family! It’s okay!
“It’s hello from Ukraine. Fine.”
The soldier, whose name is Andrei, said he would have taken more, including a laptop, if he had a bag to carry it all.
He explained: “They (Russian soldiers) carry everything here in bags!
“Damn, if I had a chance, but you see no bag, I would have taken the laptop too, but it’s also possible to get busted with it.”
His wife noted that a laptop would have come in handy, as their daughter needs one for school.
She then added: “Go ahead. Take everything, Andrei. Anything you can, take it.”
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Andrei noted the standard of the house renovations, calling them “awesome”, before turning his attention to the gazebo.
He said: “You know, and the gazebo…It’s really cool. It’s lined with stone…”
His wife interrupted: ” We should move the gazebo somehow, Andrei…”
A new video posted to social media appears to show Russian soldiers mailing their loot back home from a post office in Belarus.
Soldiers are filmed bringing large packages into a post office and handing them to the cashier.