Two Russian colonels have been caught in a foul-mouthed rant and blistering criticisms of Vladimir Putin and his defence minister Sergei Shoigu over the failing war with Ukraine.
The private phone call, which was bugged by the Kyiv secret services, revealed the dissent among higher ranks in the military.
The colonels blame Putin for not bombing the Ukrainian parliament and other key sites and Shoigu was dismissed as incompetent in military affairs.
They also hinted at the devastating losses on the Russian side in Ukraine, which have not been officially acknowledged.
The call was published by Radio Liberty/Svoboda and the colonels have been named Maxim Vlasov, 42, and Vitaly Kovtun, 47.
Kovtun is heard saying: "There must have been a f****** missile hitting Kyiv, the Supreme Rada.
“Why didn’t it? Why not? I don’t understand, f*** Putin, motherf*****! Why wasn’t there a missile strike at Kyiv?
“So that they thought: Ah yes, something is not quite right.
“Why not? Hit Kyiv, hit the centre of the city, buildings of Supreme Rada and Government House.
“Likely there isn’t anyone important there, but the building will be destroyed, and everyone will see it?”
Vlasov blasted Shoigu as a “totally incompetent layman…he is simply a showman”.
Kovtun tells his friend: “Shoigu is just s***. There aren’t enough contract soldiers - of course, there aren’t, where would they come from, b****."
He complains troops were paid only 30,000 roubles a month - less than £300 at the start of the war.
He adds: “Where the f*** to recruit them?"
Shoigu is blasted for gathering around him officers from the Russian ministry of emergencies - which he used to head.
Vlasov said: "He hasn’t f****** served in the army at all."
They also scathing about "idiot" General Alexander Dvornikov, 60, who is also known as the "Butcher of Syria".
The failure to take Kyiv and to use heavy missiles - which would have caused utter devastation in Ukraine - leaves them furious.
Kovtun said: "They want infantry to go, they f*** want artillery to work at a distance.
“Spend the f****** bombs, f***, there are f****** plenty of them, just f****** throw them! Even if they hit the wrong target, let them start fearing, f****** aim at railway stations, f****** aim at railroads, roads, for f***’s sake.”
The timing of the intercepted calls is not clear but it was after the Moskva cruiser - the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet - was sunk in a Ukrainian missile strike on April 14.
Kovtun said: “They f****** destroyed the cruiser, sank the cruiser - so why not to hit them back, as revenge?
“Hit Kyiv, do it! But no. And what does it tell us? That they don’t f****** care about us.”
He added: “You must be a motherf***** not to respond to bombed villages. “As soon as our villages were hit, we should have answered, a missile should have arrived.”
On the death toll from the war, Vlasov said: “The losses are terrible, our guys, f*** . And, you know, I know a little bit of this military history, I compare this [with the] Soviet-Finnish war, 1939-40, f***, one to one, in general, as a template, f**k, let’s go”.”
It is unclear if he means that the death rate per week or month is the same.
But during the war, Soviet losses were put at 126,875 in three and a half months.
Russia has so far failed to outline its toll from the war in Ukraine. Kyiv and Western estimates suggest a likely loss of around 30,000.
Journalists from the Skhemy - or Schemes - investigations unit at Radio Liberty sought to contact the colonels.
Kovtun replied: “I don’t care, I’ll report you to the FSB and that’s it.”
Vlasov failed to comment.
