“We lost territory while they sent Moscow encouraging news”: Russian official blasts superiors in leaked call amid Ukraine's Kursk offensive

It was an epic rant against corrupt and incompetent officials worthy of Servant of the People, Volodymyr Zelensky’s career-making satire about a schoolteacher who becomes president by angrily telling the truth about the state of his nation in a classroom video that goes viral. But our hero is Aleksandr Garkavenko, 40, the head of Goncharovka local authority council — a suburb of the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, the region now under increasing Ukrainian control after a stunning cross-border invasion on Aug. 6. Garkavenko is explaining the backwardness and graft of his own petty officialdom. Kursk, he says, is riddled with morons, clock-watching “roosters” (“bitches” in the penal sense of the word), liars and buffoons, all of whom, he insists, require not jail sentences but serious psychiatric interventions.

Garkavenko was having what he believed was a telephone conversation with higher-ups in the Russian government. He wasn’t, but his misbelief seems to have loosened Garkavenko’s tongue to a sufficient degree that we learn much about the chaos in Kursk in the initial days of Ukraine’s invasion of Russia, which has so far claimed for Kyiv 1,150 square kilometers (445 square miles) of territory and counting, as per a recent statement from Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.

The Insider has obtained the audio of Garkavenko’s call, dated Aug. 13, which we are publishing in full below. Among his disclosures:

• How young Russian conscripts turned up with only two magazines to defend the oblast from enemy assault and how locals had to rescue these inexperienced soldiers as part of a hasty and ill-coordinated evacuation.
• How Ukraine evidently used drones to perform reconnaissance two months ago of a territory few in Russia or Ukraine or the West knew it was going to invade.
• How areas labeled as mined in Goncharovka are in fact not mined, the signs acting mere decoys to deter Ukrainians.
• How the head of the Belovsky District administration instructed colleagues to go on social media and post praise of the local authorities, who were being uniformly denounced by Russians.

“What's the problem? The problem is that for two days they reported very nice encouraging news to Moscow. At that moment we were losing a lot of territory and civilians were dying.

Look what else, during the evacuation from the residential areas there were several servicemen, conscripts. I was amazed when they, together with civilians, were crossing the river, fording, near Plekhovo we were meeting them, they had two submachine-gun magazines. I say, 'Guy, excuse me, is that all that's left?' He said, 'No, that's all we had — two magazines.'

And he said: 'The command told us' — this is what the conscript was saying — 'to hold out for a day.' But we evacuated them from there on the third day already. That is, they were wandering around residential areas, they were wandering through the forest, they came across us, and we told them, 'There are Ukrainians behind, run with us.' And that's how the locals saved the two soldiers. And they told that story. No one was communicating with them whatsoever. As soon as it all started at night, they were told: 'Don't worry, hold out for a day, and everything will be fine.'”

“This is according to these soldiers. As the head of the municipality, I can tell you that I was dumbfounded and surprised, and shocked that no one... well, I must admit, the entire civil authority, we did not have any information and did not receive any guidance about what to do and whether to evacuate or not?”

The village of Plekhovo is approximately two kilometers — less than 1.5 miles — from the Russia-Ukraine border, as seen on the Google Maps screenshot below.

“Gorbunov, at 12 noon, I said before, maybe you didn't hear, on the sixth at 12 noon, he was holding an operational meeting in the district administration [Garkavenko is likely referring to Mikhail Gorbunov, the Deputy Chairman of the Kursk Oblast Government and the Chairman of the Regional Security Committee — The Insider]. Not a word was said about evacuation, not a word. That is, he was demonstrating to his oblast [regional] government that the situation was under control. That now, as usual, there’ll be a slightly more serious artillery shelling than yesterday or the day before. Well, roughly speaking, they were hitting the border areas, and now they've hit the city center. Everything will be fine, we'll restore buildings in line with procedure. That's all.

But when I saw the evacuation of papers from the FSB and the police, I understood how serious this all was [Garkavenko is referring here to internal documents being taken out of the area by Russia’s security agencies to avoid them being captured by the advancing Ukrainian army — The Insider]. I understood the seriousness, that the situation was not under control. Well, look, the next day the headquarters were created in the administration of the Bolshesoldatsky District [with Bolshoe Soldatskoe as the district center — The Insider]. They had already evacuated all the people from the district administration, meaning, the members of the administrative authorities.

There was not any authority active in Sudzha. Everyone was, including the head of the district, in Bolshoe Soldatskoe [a village 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, from Sudzha — The Insider]. They coordinated from there, perhaps, how to evacuate people from settlements not captured by Ukrainians yet. But what struck me next? I turned on the TV in the evening to see what was going on, because we ourselves had no information. [Kursk Region acting governor Alexei] Smirnov was reporting that everything’s fine, the situation was [apparently] under control. And was just realizing that if we were already in Bolshoe Soldatskoe... exactly two days later the headquarters was moved to the Belovsky District [a municipality bordering the Sudzhansky District to the south-west — The Insider], I arrive in Belovsky District, from there we begin the evacuation of people from the outskirts of the Belovsky District; we bring humanitarian aid there, and take from there whoever wants to leave. But I want to tell you something else. We arrive in [the village of] Plekhovo today, and tomorrow the Ukrainians are already there. We get to [the village of] Ulanok. The next day, the Ukrainians are already there. We get to [the village of] Vorobzha, the next day they are already there. That’s the scale of their advance.”

Ulanok and Vorobzha are each located progressively further out from Plekhovo, as seen on the Google Maps screenshot below (the Russia-Ukraine border is in the bottom left corner), indicating the speed and scale of the Ukrainian army’s advance into the region.

“I was surprised. I... Well, how should I say this? I mean, I'm a local, but I don't know my way around the area as well as they [the advancing Ukrainian army] do. I was just amazed, one guy explained to me that they'd been studying the entire area with drones for the last two months. I said, 'Damn, how quickly they move through the forests and along country roads.' You see, they didn't always go along the main road, I mean the federal, paved one. That's it. That really surprises me.”

“Everyone is talking about betrayal. I mean all those civilians who have lived through all this and continue to live through it, about betrayal. But I will tell you honestly, my opinion is that it's pure corrupt sloppiness. Sloppiness is what it is. And literally two weeks earlier, in the office of the head of the [Sudzhansky District] administration, [Aleksandr] Bogachev, I had a conflict with a colonel, as he was introduced to me, the commander soldiers in the border areas of the Sudzhansky District or some other. He refused to give his last name. When I said: 'Introduce yourself,' he refused, and Bogachev was there.

But I want to say something else. We're talking about Kurilovka, which they entered one of the first, it connects with the main municipality [of Sudzha], via a federal road, but it had been under fire for a month [Garkavenko is likely referring to the 38Н-609 municipal (not federal) road that joins Sudzha, Guevo, Gornal, and Kurilovka, leading right up to the Ukrainian border – The Insider]. A month. And I was delivering bread, water, and food there. And there’s a field road there. People were asking me for help to get this road back up and running again. And everything had already been decided. Only the military wouldn't let us fill in the anti-tank ditch [rendering the road unusable — The Insider]. And I tell the head of the district [Aleksandr Bogachev] that I'll contact the governor if we don't solve this problem, our ambulance can't go there, the fire trucks can't go there.

And then the head of the district calls me: 'Come to my office now, some colonel’s here, we'll try to solve this problem.' I arrive, and he, to put it mildly, well, took it with hostility. I'll tell you more, we almost came to blows — you know after what words he said?

I say, 'You're leaving people there, in Kurilovka, who feed the conscripts. We feed your conscripts.'

He says, 'This is your wishful thinking. The Ministry of Defense feeds them.'

I say: 'You're a pig after these words, civilians have been feeding all the guys in the trenches for two years. All of them. And you say such things.' And you know what else surprised me? He told me, 'Why should I fill in the anti-tank ditch, if tanks from Ukraine come tomorrow, how would I stop them?'

I say, 'What, can't we put up some temporary structures?' And I’ll never forget those words he said about those tanks. In two weeks the [Ukrainian] tanks rolled right along that f*cking road — excuse my swearing.”

“The most interesting thing is that there are signs saying ‘MINES,’ but in fact there are no mines there. Why am I sure about it? Because we had a fire there. Two months earlier, at night, that is, the firefighters were putting out a fire in this huge ravine, well, by the bypass road, and that night we came across a sign saying ‘MINES.’ I called the district administration, and said: ‘There’s a sign saying ‘MINES’ — can we continue putting out the fire?’ They told me yes. And I realized that it was a sham. After that I realized that it was a sham. There are no mines there. I also told him, wait, that means the road there cannot be opened for people specifically for evacuation. And the sheep, with the electric shepherd, someone from the Ministry of Defense allowed sheep there [the ‘electric shepherd’ Garkavenko is referring to is an electric fence — a device used to restrict the movement of livestock in a pasture; it consists of several rows of live wire suspended on stakes — The Insider] This is where the village of Goncharovka ends. And the village of Kurilovka begins. There’s a bypass road. We had a run-in over this bypass road, because I say it needs to be opened so that the ambulance, the fire truck could get there. As for the mobile shop, I manage somehow to drive it there more or less normally. There are only two old ladies there who asked for help. Everyone else seemed to get there themselves in their own vehicles. Well, this indifference… I was simply amazed.”

“I have a feeling that these people, who do not have any limits of corruption, are mentally abnormal. If you have any opportunity, do not put them in jail. I understand that our system will never bring these people to justice. Send them for medical treatment.

After all, civilians are suffering, but they don’t care about anything, they sit in their offices, they’re not afraid of anything. And the most important thing is that they ignore everything happening on the ground, they simply ignore it. I will tell you honestly, in each municipality, the heads of the village councils dress, feed and shoe all the soldiers from the first days [of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine].”

“Take the head of the Belovsky District administration [Nikolai Viktorovich Volobuev — The Insider]. The head of the district MFC (Multifunctional Center for the Provision of State and Municipal Services) calls him and says: 'Nikolai Viktorovich, please, how can we help? Maybe we should start calling people? We have their phone numbers in order to inform on evacuation, on where to go. Do you understand what the matter is?'

The head of the district says: 'Look, on social networks, in such and such a locality, they're speaking negatively, that the district government is not coping or is coping poorly. Start throwing in other information there to praise us.'

I'm amazed at this approach. I say: 'How so? Yes?'

He said: 'Throw in something saying that in these localities, not all people are criticizing the district government in unison; there are also those that are satisfied. Dilute the negativity.'”

“Do you understand? This is just something I don't know what to think about, and I think what should happen in the country so that all these roosters ['petukh' or 'rooster' is Russian prison slang for a passive homosexual who is routinely sexually assaulted by other men – The Insider] who have been sitting [in their seats] for 30 years understand that they need to leave because the war has come, you understand? No, they’ve found loopholes in war where they feel comfortable.'”

“I also had a row with the mayor of the city [Vitaly Slashchev is the mayor of Sudzha — The Insider]. Why did I have a row? I say, while you are in the Bolshesoldatsky District, why are you giving an interview to say that everything is all right in the city of Sudzha? And your messages were picked up on Channel One [Russia’s leading state-owned propaganda TV channel, available in every household across the country — The Insider]. Why? Not because you’re such a good guy, but because they are just pulling the wool over the president's eyes. The mayor of the city himself reports to us, It’s not us making this up…

Do you understand or not, how this looks? Well, you know that everything is not right there. We need to tell the truth. I say, you and I are now in the Belovsky District. We have a gas station there, in Konopelka, where 14 bodies of [dead] soldiers are lying. And it’s two kilometers [1.2 miles] from this gas station in Konopelka to Sudzha. And we cannot take these bodies, because everything there is under the control of Ukraine. You say that it’s calm on that territory, but we can’t even drive two kilometers closer.”

On August 9, three days after Ukraine’s surprise incursion into the Kursk Region, Sudzha Mayor Vitaly Slashchev gave an interview to state-run news agency TASS claiming the city was still under Russian control. Several days later, on August 14, a film crew from the Ukrainian TV channel TSN released a video report from Sudzha, which indicated that Ukrainian forces were firmly in control of at least the western and central parts of Sudzha — including the city administration area.

“As of the 11th, I saw only one checkpoint. One checkpoint near Bolshesoldatsky District, the border of Sudzhansky District and Bolshesoldatsky — the landmark there is [the village of] Martynovka, [the checkpoint is] after Martynovka, about eight kilometers away. On the Belgorod Region side there are two posts, and on the Korenevo side [approximately 50 km, or 31 miles, northwest of Sudzha — The Insider] there are our posts, and that's all, only at the entrances. That is, they stop civilians so that they don't go there. To be honest with you, it seems to me that they’re looking around more to survive themselves. The situation there is so chaotic.”

“They set up checkpoints, which are not protected by anyone. And even the headquarters in Bolshesoldatsky [District], there were probably four armed people around the administration, with mobile radios. And in Belovsky District I didn't see any military or armed people there. And even when we were delivering humanitarian aid, well, to be honest, I had left a helmet and a bulletproof vest in my car — we had been given a helmet and a bulletproof vest about two months ago when I was delivering food — I had a… my car let me down, it wouldn't start, everything had been left there. That's all. And when we were driving, delivering, no one had bulletproof vests. Even that — basic things weren't available.

And I'll tell you honestly, that's all that has happened. We, the civil authorities, need to atone for our guilt, and not make videos about us, what heroes we are. It's shameful. I'm ashamed, I'll tell you honestly. Although I understand that little depended on me. But I'm ashamed that I couldn't evacuate the bulk of the people orderly and in a timely manner. And now we're delivering this humanitarian aid, wherever possible. It's like atonement. No civil leader can present this as a success, no one can bring this up as a success. In no case. It's a duty. But we already [are], I cannot comprehend this. There are certain groups that nominate and promote certain political leaders, and it's disgusting to watch. People have lost their lives, they've lost their children. And then, at the same time, they're delivering bread, they're delivering water, they're delivering canned meat. Look at what heroes our officials are! Shame! They're not heroes.”

“As for Goncharovka, no one consulted me at all about where to place anything. But I will tell you that a [BM-21] Grad [multiple rocket launcher] was used from [the suburb’s] residential areas. It happened, it happened from time to time. That surprised me. A Grad would stop and [start launching rockets] right in the middle of the street. Do you understand? I saw it personally. That surprised me. That was two or three weeks before everything happened.”

As of August 17, 2024, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) claim control over 1,150 square kilometers of Russian territory and 82 settlements, as per the latest report from AFU Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. Hundreds of Russian soldiers have been taken prisoner as a result of the cross-border incursion which began on Aug. 6.

The Russian command, meanwhile, appears to have not yet pulled back significant forces from Ukraine to the Kursk direction.

The Insider recently published an article assessing the interim results of the AFU’s Kursk operation and potential future scenarios. The key outcomes of Ukraine’s offensive include the crossing of “red lines” regarding the use of Western equipment on internationally recognized Russian soil and the dilemma now facing the Russian leadership, which may need to assemble a force of up to 30,000 troops to attempt to push the Ukrainian army back across the border.