Russian soldier defects to Ukraine after spying for resistance group for months

A Russian soldier has defected to Ukraine, according to the Freedom for Russia Legion, the “I Want to Live Project,” and the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.

The defected soldier – with the call sign “Silver” – was an active serviceman for the unit “Storm” before volunteering for the Freedom for Russia Legion during the “winter of 2024,” the legion, a group of Russian dissidents fighting for Ukraine, said.

Silver, a 24-year-old from Siberia who joined the Russian army in 2021, gave his reasons for defecting in an interview posted on YouTube by the “I Want to Live” project – a Ukrainian government initiative which receives appeals from Russian servicemen in Ukraine wishing to surrender.

“I wanted to serve in the army, I gave an oath to protect my motherland. My motherland is there [in Russia] and no-one attacked it. I didn’t want to serve for Russia during the war and didn’t want to die for Putin,” he said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-soldier-defects-ukraine-spying-185158150.html