Two Russian soldiers predicted their own death after row with commander

Sergei Gritsai and Dmitry Lysakovsky predicted they would die in what they said was a suicide mission (Pictures: East2West)

Two Russian drone operators correctly predicted their deaths after their commander allegedly sent them on suicide mission for arguing with him.

In a video recorded before their deaths, the middle age men said they had been told to leave their drone squad and join an infantry platoon storming a Ukrainian position in occupied Donetsk

The footage, published posthumously, sees Dmitry ‘Goodwin’ Lysakovsky and Sergei ‘Ernest’ Gritsai accuse their new commander Igor Puzyk, of making the unusual order after a quarrel.

The pair had apparently been angry that their drone intelligence was wasted, which hadn’t gone down well with Puzyk.

They also claim that commander had facilitated drug trafficking in his unit and lied about battlefield gains under his command.

Lysakovsky says: ‘I’m leaving for an attack. If I come back fine, if I don’t then we’ll show you and explain to you [the reality].’

Lysakovsky recorded separate footage where he is alone and further criticises Puzyk, claiming commander was being influenced by a soldier who kept ties with Ukrainian intelligence.

The men wanted the video published if they didn’t return from the assault

He also discourages people from joining the Russian forces, saying: ‘Please, don’t serve in the ministry of defence… Your task is to die here so that the regiment commander, reporting to higher-ups, looks good. You are his personal serfs.’

On Sunday the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the pair’s deaths, which happened during an assault on the village of Lisivka, on September 11.

Lisivka had previously been wrongly claimed by the Russians to have been ‘liberated’ but remained in Ukrainian hands.

In their joint footage, the two men said they complied with their commander’s orders because they had taken an ‘oath to the Motherland’.

Lysakovsky urged others not to join the military (Picture: Social media/east2west news)

Gritsai died alongside Lysakovsky on September 11 (Picture: Social media/east2west news)

The videos, which have been widely circulated on the Telegram social messaging app, are said to have angered the Russian defence ministry, which is trying to boost army recruitment numbers.

The men’s claims they had been sent on a suicide mission as a punishment also sparked outrage among military bloggers.

Some said they’d heard the soldiers were two of the best drone operators on the front line and sending them to almost certain death was self-sabotage.

Several said wasting valuable specialists on frontline assaults was becoming more and more common because of manpower shortages, reports Business Insider.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.