Starving Russian soldiers 'ate comrades' on Ukraine front line, Kyiv claims
Cybersecurity specialists in Kyiv say they have evidence of five separate instances where Russian troops have reported eating their comrades
Russian soldiers are "turning to cannibalism" while fighting in Ukraine in the winter months when food supplies run low, according to Ukrainian military intelligence.
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Cybersecurity specialists in Kyiv say they have evidence of five separate instances where Russian troops have reported eating their comrades.
They say they obtained these through photographs and audio transmissions between senior Russian army officers on messaging app Telegram.
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According to the intelligence sources, the feasting took place during the deep winter when supplies had been severely disrupted.
Each incident was isolated and questions also raised about the mental health of the individuals involved, the Sunday Times reports.
Russia has denied the allegations, claiming they are propaganda produced by Ukrainian military intelligence.
In one case, a soldier known by the call sign Khromoy, a Russian word roughly translating to "limpy", had reportedly cut the leg off a soldier he had killed near Myrnohrad in the contested Donetsk region and tried to eat it.
His victim was one of two soldiers he had killed in November 2025 and his attempted cannibalism was reported by an unnamed officer to a senior commander in a Telegram conversation.
The officer said: "In short, one ally killed two others and he tried - he cut off a leg and was already trying to eat one of them."
He also sent images of the leg to the commander, who asked the officer if the troops were being properly fed, to which he replied: "Ours will also soon start eating each other. All the guys are skinny. Everyone is on starvation rations."
Ukrainian sources say they used a specialist AI-detection software to prove the images shared were not artificially generated or altered.
They also had the injured reviewed by an independent conflict surgeon, who said they appeared to be made with a sharp knife and were inconsistent with blast or fragment wounds.
In other Telegram conversations, a soldier complained about sharing a dugout with a comrade he said had eaten a corpse.
In another, a unit commander ordered a subordinate to stop eating the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, before telling him he could have access to food if he asked.
The chief of staff of a separate motorised rifle brigade also also allegedly ordered his troops that there would be "no cannibalism", prohibiting it alongside alcohol, drugs and moving without identity documents.
Cannibalism claims have historically been used in wartime to dehumanise the enemy.
But experts say the accusations of poor Russian logistics are credible and well documented throughout the conflict.
Bradley Martin, a former US naval captain and senior research fellow at the Rand Corporation, said Russian troop support was "not a major priority of the Russian army” and therefore reports of poor food supply made sense.
Moscow's supply chains are said to have been run dry by a particularly harsh winter, with military analyst Vikram Mittal pointing out that resupply vehicles were "particularly vulnerable" to Ukrainian drone attacks.
CCTV footage published in 2023 by Ukraine's security services showed Russian troops looting shops and private homes in search of food.
Ukraine has been actively targeting Russian logistics networks using kamikaze and bomber drones, including attacks on train depots and storage facilities in Crimea and Russia.
The Russian Embassy in London said there was "no reason to comment" on the allegations, with a spokesman describing the claims as "fabrications supplied by Ukrainian military intelligence”.