A Russian paratrooper disgusted with Russia's invasion of Ukraine has defected and is now in hiding, saying he and other Russian troops were lied to about the attack, reports CBS News.

Pavel Filatyev told the news outlet that many Russian soldiers had no clue they had just invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, instead thinking NATO was approaching when shelling began.

"It was only 10 days later when I realized, there is no NATO here, it's only Ukrainians," he said.

Filatyev said Russians have been lied to "for many years."

"I know that we have been tricked for many years, and everything shown on [Russian] state TV has nothing to do with reality," he said. "Every person in Russia knows this. We have been lied to for many years and, unfortunately, now the same thing is happening in the war."

While he felt bad for abandoning his post, he said it was for the best.

"The Russian paratroop brigade has a similar attitude to the Navy Seals of the U.S. — it is cowardly and shameful to lay down your weapons and abandon your post," he told CBS News. "Even though we started to realize this war was wrong, we didn't know what to do."

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his military to beef up its ranks by adding another 137,000 troops, bringing Russia's overall military personnel size to 2,039,758.

The decree comes weeks after the Pentagon estimated that as many as 80,000 Russian troops have been wounded or killed in less than six months of fighting in Ukraine.

The U.S. casualty estimate "is pretty remarkable considering that the Russians have achieved none of Vladimir Putin's objectives at the beginning of the war," undersecretary of defense for policy Colin Kahl told reporters in early August. Russia's "overall objective was to overrun the entire country, to engage in regime change in Kyiv, to snuff out Ukraine as an independent sovereign and democratic nation. None of that has happened."

CBS could not independently verify Filatyev's credentials with the Russian military.

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