On 1 August 2022, a Russian paratrooper by the name of Pavel Filatyev published his remembrances as a participant in the invasion of Ukraine on his Vkontakte social media page. He titled his memoir ZOV after the tactical markings painted on Russian army vehicles – Z, in particular, has been adopted as a pro-war symbol in Russia; ZOV glosses to Зов which means “an outcry of suffering” or simply ”the call.” This text is the most detailed account from a Russian soldier involved in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine thus far.
Since the release of his text and subsequent attention by the Western press, Mr. Filatyev has been on the run. It is believed he has fled Russia.
Below please find both the original Russian text and the machine-translated English version (via DeepL) of the same.
ZOV (Russian)
Suffering (English) [revised 25 August 2022]
Press Coverage
Острый Угол (Acute Angle)
- Война в Украине глазами российского солдата: бардак, бездарное командование и нежелание убивать [via WebArchive : https://web.archive.org/web/20220816113555/https://storage.googleapis.com/istories/opinions/2022/08/10/voina-v-ukraine-glazami-rossiiskogo-soldata-bardak-bezdarnoe-komandovanie-i-nezhelanie-ubivat/index.html]
- The war in Ukraine through the eyes of a Russian soldier: a mess, mediocre command, and unwillingness to kill [translated to English]
- ZOV – war in Ukraine through the eyes of a Russian paratrooper [YouTube reportage]
Professional Translation
Without much fanfare, Random House quietly scheduled a professionally translated version of ZOV for early 2023 – ten days prior to the one-year anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. It is available here for pre-order:
