By Robert Leslie and Mia Jankowicz
May 5, 2025
- An international volunteer who fought in Ukraine said his unit vowed never to be taken alive by Russia.
- Macer Gifford told BI that Putin sees this as a “war of annihilation,” with tactics taken from ISIS.
- Gifford gave a stark warning to onlookers who view it as just a “war on the edge of Europe.”
An international volunteer who fought in Ukraine told Business Insider that Russia’s armed forces have such a reputation for brutality that his unit agreed never to be captured alive.
Russian forces are “incredibly dangerous, oftentimes fanatical or desperate people that would torture you and kill you if they caught you,” said Macer Gifford, the nom de guerre of British former trader Harry Rowe.
A veteran of the Ukrainian army, who previously volunteered to fight in Syria, Gifford fought in key locations in Ukraine, including in Kherson and Lyman.
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How fighting Russia in Ukraine actually works, according to a Ukrainian army volunteer00:02/42:54https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.695.1_en.html#fid=goog_804481788https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.695.1_en.html#fid=goog_804481789https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.695.1_en.html#fid=goog_804481790How fighting Russia in Ukraine actually works, according to a Ukrainian army volunteer
He spoke to BI’s Authorized Account about the realities of fighting Russia, and the tough decisions his unit had to take.
‘Every depth of depravity’
While some Russians have reported torture and ill-treatment at the hands of Ukrainian captors, it has largely happened at the point of capture and “stopped when prisoners arrived at official places of internment,” a UN investigation found last year.
Not so Russia. The investigation said that there is “widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment” of prisoners of war throughout Russia’s entire system of internment. This includes beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence, suffocation, sleep deprivation, and mock executions, it said.
There have also been killings: Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Matsievsky became a cause célèbre after he was forced to dig his own grave before being shot in captivity, the BBC reported.
“Russia has gone to every depth of depravity you could possibly imagine,” Gifford said.
That’s why his unit entered into a pact — even expelling one member who tried to surrender during a firefight, he said. There was an agreement that “no one in the unit was allowed to be taken alive.”
There have also been killings: Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Matsievsky became a cause célèbre after he was forced to dig his own grave before being shot in captivity, the BBC reported.
“Russia has gone to every depth of depravity you could possibly imagine,” Gifford said.
That’s why his unit entered into a pact — even expelling one member who tried to surrender during a firefight, he said. There was an agreement that “no one in the unit was allowed to be taken alive.”
But it’s the jihadist group that appears to have provided a model for Russian troops in Ukraine, Gifford said.
The “level and scope” of Russia’s barbarity on civilians, he said, reminded him “of the same tactics that the Islamic State used.”
Gifford recalled how, during his time fighting in Syria, he would find cages, torture instruments, and mattresses with chains next to them for holding female captives in Islamic State-controlled areas.
“I thought that the Islamic State was a fringe, that it was a unique thing,” he said, but in his view, “many of their brutal practices have been adopted by Russia — mainly, I suppose, because they were so effective in Syria,” he added.
Russia’s war machine
Gifford described Russia’s war machine as “incredibly big and incredibly dangerous.”
But while Russia leads in scale — its army is on track to grow to 1.5 million active troops — its forces have been “decimated” in Ukraine, he said.
Russia’s approach to war is about scale and “meat wave” attacks in which astonishing numbers of casualties are tolerated, Gifford said.
The “real differences” between the countries come down to “the way they value life,” he added. “The Ukrainians are fighting for their lives. Russia is just fighting for more territory, and that’s the difference.”
But Gifford stressed that Ukraine’s allies need to stop seeing the war as “a conflict on the edge of Europe,” and that for Putin it means much more.
For him, it’s “a war of annihilation,” Gifford said. It’s “the war to end all wars in the eyes of Vladimir Putin.”
Russia has routinely denied allegations of war crimes. The Russian Ministry of Defence didn’t respond to a request for comment
Some sobering quotes :
“Russian forces are “incredibly dangerous, oftentimes fanatical or desperate people that would torture you and kill you if they caught you,” said Macer Gifford, the nom de guerre of British former trader Harry Rowe.”
“Russia has gone to every depth of depravity you could possibly imagine,” Gifford said.”
“The “level and scope” of Russia’s barbarity on civilians, he said, reminded him “of the same tactics that the Islamic State used.”
“I thought that the Islamic State was a fringe, that it was a unique thing,” he said, but in his view, “many of their brutal practices have been adopted by Russia — mainly, I suppose, because they were so effective in Syria,” he added.”
“For him, it’s “a war of annihilation,” Gifford said. It’s “the war to end all wars in the eyes of Vladimir Putin.”
There is nothing here that we don’t already know about. But it’s very important that the true depravity of the foul scum sent into Ukraine by the rat nazi is known by as many people in the west as possible.
I would take issue with the claim that ruZZia has adopted isis practices. I’d say it’s the other way around : izlamonazi terror gangs have been trained by ruZZia for many decades. The IRA murder gang also was/is ruZZia-trained. Their brutality too was off the scale.
Atrocities committed by ruZZia troops go back centuries. In WW2, marauding red army scum raped and tortured their way through Germany just as they do now. Atrocities committed in Abkhazia in the 1990’s, Georgia in 2008, Syria and of course Ukraine since 2014, follow the same pattern. There is nothing they won’t do : beatings, beheading, castration, mutilation, electricity, you name it. In Syria and elsewhere, they were known to kill a man, cut off his penis, stick it in his mouth and dump the body outside his home.
The difference between German nazis and ruZZian nazis is that ruZZian atrocities like rape and torture are officially sanctioned. Orc women even laughingly encourage their orcs to do it.
In WW2, the the Wehrmacht was a professional army that had codes of practice. Atrocities were mainly committed by the SS.
RuZZian orcs are ALL savages. Their malevolence is officially sanctioned.
The roaches didn’t rape only German women, they literally raped their way across the continent, from one country to the next. A mega swarm of locusts is a fresh breeze by comparison.
I agree with you Sir Scradge, rashists didn’t learn their genocidal brutality from isis or other such groups, these groups learned it from rashists.
“the war to end all wars in the eyes of Vladimir Putin.” – wrong, it’s a war that will start many wars in the eyes of putler.
“Russia has gone to every depth of depravity you could possibly imagine,”
The russian terrorist federation should be made to go extinct. There is no justified reason for it to exist. The supporters of this failed criminal state are just as depraved as these ghouls are.