Ukrainian soldier Bogdan Smaga, who laid down arms, has revealed some unflattering details about his service and the way his command treated him.
The soldier revealed that he only went on field exercises once during his years of his service. Even then his commanders abandoned him and other soldiers in the woods without fuel or food, forcing them to eat marmots and rabbits.
In order to find their way back to their unit, Smaga said, the soldiers had to use Google maps.
Smaga also revealed that after he laid down arms, the Ukrainian command told his mother he was dead.
"Mom, I'm fine," the private reassured his mother via the journalists.
According to Smaga, the reckless attitude of the Ukrainian military command was common. He said that there was a time when some people — apparently foreign military instructors — from Canada or America arrived at his unit, only to discover that the military aid their countries had donated was gone.
"They [the commanders] plundered half of the unit," Smaga said.