Four Russian soldiers have told the BBC they witnessed their own commanders executing fellow troops for refusing orders on Ukraine's front lines.

In a new documentary, The Zero Line: Inside Russia's War, the men, now hiding outside Russia, detailed the horrors they saw, including on-the-spot shootings known in military slang as "zeroing." Two of them, Ilya and Dima, provided graphic accounts of soldiers being shot at point-blank range after fleeing assaults or declining what they called suicide missions, or "meat storms."

Ilya, a 35-year-old former special needs teacher from Russia's Ural Mountains mobilized in May 2024, said he saw four executions in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region. One occurred in Panteleimonivka and three in Novoazovsk. "The saddest thing is that I knew them," he recounted. "I remember one of them screaming 'Don't shoot, I'll do anything!' but he [the commander] zeroed them anyway." Ilya described commanders issuing orders over the radio: "Zero this one, zero that one." He himself endured torture, tied to a tree, beaten, urinated on, and threatened at gunpoint after refusing to fight.

Dima, 34, a former dishwasher repairman mobilized in 2022 and serving as a medic in the 25th Brigade, witnessed killings just meters away. "Just murders, just click, clack, bang. It's not a drama, it's not a movie, it's real life," he said. He also saw 20 ex-convicts shot after their bank cards were confiscated, their deaths covered up in reports. Dima's unit suffered heavy losses in meat storms—waves of infantry sent forward relentlessly, escalating from groups of three to 50 men—resulting in 200 dead in three days early on.

The soldiers described a culture of intimidation, with torture including electrocution, beatings, starvation, and humiliation as a routine for dissenters. Denis, 27, had his front teeth knocked out by a superior. A senior staff officer spoke of liquidation squads finishing off survivors. Families of one unit appealed to President Vladimir Putin in January 2025 over commander Alexei Ksenofontov, awarded Hero of Russia status and the Gold Star medal in 2024 despite allegations of brutality.

The BBC reports this as the first on-record accounts from frontline Russian soldiers alleging commander-ordered executions. The UK Ministry of Defence estimates Russian daily casualties at 900 to 1,500 in 2025 amid grinding offensives. The Russian Embassy in the UK stated its forces operate with "utmost restraint," treat personnel with "maximum care," and investigate alleged violations, though it could not verify the BBC's information.

Such claims echo prior reports. A Verstka investigation in October 2025 documented 101 superiors accused of similar abuses, including drone strikes on retreating troops, verifying at least 150 deaths. In 2023, the White House cited intelligence on Russian executions for refusals.

The documentary, filmed secretly throughout 2025, comes as Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth year, with no end in sight to the attrition warfare in Donetsk and beyond.