'We were allowed to be slaughtered': Russian soldier tells wife

The Ukrainian military has been able to intercept calls between Russian soldiers and their families back home in Russia.

The calls have been able to give a glimpse of the desperate situation these young soldiers have found themselves in while fighting Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.

In one of the audio clips shared by the Ukrainian military with The Guardian, a soldier named Andrey could be heard saying, "No one feeds us anything, mum. Our supply is shit, to be honest. We draw water from puddles, then we strain it and drink it," he adds.

The soldier made the call to his mother using an unauthorised mobile phone. The call was reportedly made on November 8 while the soldier was on the frontlines near the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman, the publication reported. Andrey also complains about the lack of ammunition needed to fight the war.

"Where are the missiles that Putin boasted about?" he asks his mother. "There is a high-rise building right in front of us. Our soldiers can't hit it. We need one Caliber cruise missile and that's it."

In another intercepted call, a soldier could be heard telling his wife that he was contemplating surrender. "I am in a sleeping bag, all wet, coughing, generally fucked up," he says. "We were all allowed to be slaughtered," he tells his wife before ending the call.

The families of the soldiers in question have declined to comment on the content of the phone calls.

This is not the first time that the Ukrainian authorities have been able to intercept Russian soldiers' calls. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian Security Service (SSU) claimed that it had intercepted radio communications between Russian soldiers and heard them talking about "eating dogs and raping Ukrainian women."

It is not clear when exactly the phone calls took place and who made the calls.

Putin's war in Ukraine has been going on for more than 10 months now. The country has suffered significant losses during this period, but that has not deterred Putin from continuing the assault.