I find it strange that Sergey is talking to his mother in English language.
If I'd have to guess, my best guess would be that Sergey sits in some SBU office, and not in forest
How we reported this story
As part of a monthslong investigation into atrocities committed during Russias campaign to seize Kyiv, reporters with The New York Times exclusively obtained more than 4,000 recordings of Russian soldiers phone calls intercepted in the Bucha area by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.
The Times spent almost two months translating the recordings from Russian to English. Twenty-two phones were shared among dozens of soldiers who identified themselves as being members of several military units, including the 656th National Guard Regiment and the 237th and 331st Airborne Regiments. The phones were used to call hundreds of phone numbers in Russia during its campaign in March.
Reporters with the Visual Investigations team independently authenticated the calls by cross-referencing outgoing and incoming Russian phone numbers with messaging apps and Russian social media accounts, and information contained in leaked Russian databases. The Times confirmed the identity of one soldier and his girlfriend over the phone. And details divulged in some calls were verified with contemporaneous reports in Russian media.
In some instances, soldiers said their names or gave other personal details, including the names of their commanders, or their unit number. Those details matched personal profiles registered to those phone numbers, along with other New York Times reporting on the units present in the areas around Bucha. The Times used common spellings for the soldiers names.