How are the Russian war veterans coping after returning from the Ukraine War

How are Russian war veterans coping after returning from the battlefield  : A perspective from the eyes of  Russian prostitutes

Russian veterans of the war in Ukraine  known as SVOshniks   have a reputation for violence and abuse back home in Russia, committing many murders, rapes and assaults. Few are more exposed to the danger than Russia's prostitutes, whose experiences point to future trouble

The St Petersburg news outlet Bumaga ('Paper') has been speaking with prostitutes about how their business has changed since the start of the war in Ukraine. They say that soldiers now amount for as much as 50% of their clientele, but are also the most violent and difficult.

While the police are causing many problems by repeatedly harassing prostitutes and closing down their salons, says St Petersburg single mother Veronica, "SVOshniks cause much more trouble."

Until recently, the ratio between them and other clients at our salon was about 50/50 – every second man was from the Special Military Operation (SVO). I think this happened because of the large amount of money that they were paid and which they wanted to quickly squander.

In September, a military client came to us, without arms and legs. He "blew" 3 million rubles ($36,600), then borrowed money from me for a ticket home to Volgograd.

Many of them behave disgustingly, constantly pestering you with reminders that they are heroes, and so on.

Those who are better behaved order girls for a long time, drink with them, sing songs. SVOshniks in general drink a lot and use drugs a lot. Probably to somehow forget [the war], but I think that [this way] you will not forget anything.

On the contrary, it will only get worse – you will drink too much or sniff too much, and you will completely go crazy. [To one degree or another] everyone has started having problems with their heads.

This is noticeable, even if the soldier communicates normally and seems rational.

Soldiers take out their frustrations with violence and threats, including shooting up salons and attacking the prostitutes.

Veronica says that one soldier told her: 'I cut off the heads of the [Ukrainians], do you think I won't cut yours off?' Another SVOshnik decided to protect us, they got into a fight, the girls and I ran away.

The SVOshnik ran around the apartment after another girl with a knife, saying: 'I'm used to killing.'

In general, no one likes to go on visits to SVOshniks – everyone has heard about their antics, girls are mostly afraid of them.

You don't know in advance what he is like – whether everything is normal in his head, what he is capable of.

Most of the SVOshniks I met at work were contract soldiers, they went to the Special Military Operation for money.

During the entire war I had contact with two or three mobilised men, and that was a long time ago – now, it seems to me, there are almost no mobilised men left alive.

I also met soldiers who said that ‘we are right,’ that everyone must be ‘brought to their knees,’ but such ‘patriots’ probably make up only 30–35 per cent of them. There were also those who simply wanted to get out of prison – to fight for a year and live a normal life.

Usually they said that it would have been better to serve out the rest of their sentence.

There are many wheelchair users among such clients. On our visits we helped them bandage their limbs a couple of times – it was scary, but what can you do.

Once I talked to one of the contract soldiers – he was lying on a bed, only a finger on his hand remained of his limbs, and his legs and the other arm were torn off. I asked if it was worth the money? Of course, he answered no.

Veronica is planning to leave sex work and become an eyelash specialist, as are many of her colleagues. They are all afraid of what will happen when the war ends.

When the war is over, the SVOshniks will return en masse, and that will be scary for the industry. Half of them will have weapons, they are used to getting [a monthly salary of] 200,000 [rubles] — who among them will go back to the factory now?

But they themselves don’t say anything about the end of the war. I asked some of them when it will all end – they answered that it will take a long time.

35-year-old Natalia calls soldiers "not so great clients – yes, they pay well, but their psyche is broken. How can I treat them if my friend in Rostov along with other girls was driven into a sauna by the SVOshniks and beaten half to death? God spared me.

It's dangerous to talk to many of them, even to joke around — they might misunderstand something, and then you could have a knife to your throat.

I don't understand how you can have a relationship or start a family with men like that, because he could kill his wife and children. They don't have enough war in civilian life, so they take it out on girls.

[From what I've seen,] few of the SVOshniks were eager to go there [to war]. Many said they were forced to go, some of them even spoke out against the Special Military Operation – I didn't meet any ideological patriots.

There are many who went for the money, and as I understand it, they get it quite easily. Or maybe they don't value it – I don't know. Everything they earn there for killing, they squander here on nothing.

They don't spend it on their families or their future, but on prostitutes, alcohol and drugs. There's nothing to talk about with them – I don't see a future in their eyes.

Many of them have become disabled – what plans can they have now? I went to SVOshniks who were left without arms, without legs. They kind of want [to have sex], but it's difficult for them – do you understand what kind of sex can there be if you have no legs?

The salons that still accept clients are posting more and more guards because of the SVOshniks, sometimes even with weapons.

As the prostitutes' testimony indicates, Russian society is likely to face an epidemic of violence from ex-soldiers once the war in Ukraine ends. In 2023 alone, there was a 900% increase in the number of convictions of soldiers for murders committed in Russia.

As of June 2025, court records show that at least 378 people have been killed by soldiers returning from the war. Around 137,000 soldiers have already been discharged, with many reporting difficulties in finding jobs because of their reputation for instability and violence.

Russia has experienced this before. After the end of the war in Afghanistan in 1989, tens of thousands of combat veterans were left with untreated PTSD, crippling injuries, and little support from the state, and faced many difficulties in reintegrating with civilian society.

As a result, Russia experienced a massive upsurge in violent crime, with Afghan veterans becoming the backbone of the Russian mafia and its main enforcers. The 1990s were scarred by car bombings, drive-by shootings and assassinations.

 While the Russian state is much stronger now than it was in the 1990s, controlling the returning veterans will be an even bigger challenge. Far more people have been involved in the war in Ukraine as a proportion of the population than was the case for Afghanistan.

More than a million Russians are by now likely to have been killed or injured in the war in Ukraine. As a result, the war has almost certainly created a lost generation of psychologically disturbed men whose trauma and violence will play out for decades to come. 

*** This is Strictly for Archival Purposes only***

Sources:

• https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1962073553622208760?s=20

• https://paperpaper.io/kak-vojna-izmenila-seks-uslugi-dve-lich/

• https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/06/26/nearly-140k-russian-soldiers-back-from-war-are-in-need-of-reintegration-kremlin-says-a89581

• https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e7vl01gngo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e7vl01gngo