On February 2, 2023, Konstantin Yefremov, a senior officer to speak openly, told the BBC in an exclusive interview Russia now sees him as a traitor and defector. Konstantin Yefremov deployed to Ukraine last year, the former senior lieutenant has agreed to tell about the crimes he says he witnessed. He witnessed torture and mistreatment of Ukrainian prisoners. He talks about his comrades looting occupied areas of Ukraine and describes brutal interrogation sessions, led by a Russian colonel, in which men were shot. On February 10, 2022, Mr. Yefremov said he arrived in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia. He was the head of a demining unit of the 42nd Motorised Rifle Division and was usually based in Chechnya. He and his men were sent to take part in “military exercises”. Mr. Yefremov recalls seeing Russian troops taping identification marks on their uniforms and painting the letter “Z” on military equipment and vehicles. Within days, “Z” had become the symbol of what the Kremlin was calling its “special military operation”.Officers were ordered not to give the Ukrainian prisoners any proper food, and he witnessed a mock execution of one. Prisoners were shot in the arm during interrogations. He claimed that the interrogations, the torture, continued for nearly a week at one location in southern Ukraine. Every day, every night, and even twice a day. Konstantin Yefremov stated that some of the Russians tried to help the prisoners by “dressing him in a Russian uniform and taking him to the hospital and suggested that he not reveal that he is a Ukrainian prisoner of war, because the doctors would refuse to treat him, or they would injure him more.” Konstantin Yefremov also stated that he “apologizes on behalf of the entire Ukrainian nation for entering their house uninvitedly and with a firearm. I’m very glad I didn’t cause any harm. No one was killed by me. Thank God I’m still alive. I don’t even have the moral authority to beg the Ukrainians for forgiveness. I can’t ask them to forgive me since I can’t even forgive myself”.