Morale has dropped so low within Russian soldiers as they have started to shoot themselves in the leg to escape the fighting in Ukraine, it has been reported.

The soldiers, some of whom were conscripted into fighting, appear to be growing weary of war after three weeks of brutal fighting, with as many as 7,000 Russians killed so far.

With harsh punishments awaiting anyone who deserts their posts back home, some appear to have started taking extreme measures to ensure a quick route home, Daily Star reports.

According to Belarusian media outlet NEXTA, some of Putin’s men are looking for Ukrainian ammunition so they can shoot themselves in the leg, so as to not raise eyebrows.

In intercepted audio from a man calling his mother back home, he is heard saying they are searching for 7.62 bullets fired by their enemies, rather than 5.62 ammo fired by their Russian AK-74s.

Clearly desperate to escape the battlefield of Ukraine, he explained he cannot just go home as those who refuse Putin face prison sentences of around eight years.

In another intercepted conversation made public last weekend, a Russian soldier is heard saying: “They’ve been shooting at us for 14 days. We’re scared. We’re stealing food, breaking into houses. We’re killing civilians.

“Russian officers shoot themselves in the legs to go home. There are corpses everywhere. They collected eight wagons of cargo 200.”

More than 14,000 Russians are believed to have been injured in the fighting, with around half killed as they fight Vladimir Putin’s war.

It comes as a sobbing Russian soldier shot down over Ukrainian airspace slammed Vladimir Putin for killing civilians and children in Ukraine.

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He was one of three captured before being given the chance to speak to journalists at the Interfax Ukraine News Agency.

One of the soldiers, Galkin Sergey Alekseevich, went on to apologise for Russia’s action in Ukraine.

He said: “I apologise for myself, for my squad to every home to every street to every citizen of Ukraine, to the elderly, to women, to children for our invasion of these lands.

“I gravely apologise for our treacherous invasion.”

The soldiers can be seen tearing up as they bow their heads into their hands.

Alekseevich, 34, went on to beg Russian forces to lay down their arms and urged Putin to “stop sending soldiers” to kill in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces have captured around 1,000 troops who are being held.

The Ukrainian leader said: “We have already almost 1,000 prisoners and their video testimonies”.

He added that he is looking forward to working with the International Criminal Court to ensure “those who invaded our territory for nothing are punished”.

The Star