Ukrainian troops taking part in the incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region have started “actively surrendering,” Major-General Apty Alaudinov, the commander of the Akhmat Special Forces from Russia’s Chechen Republic, told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
Akhmat and other Russian military units have been “systematically eliminating the enemy,” the general said, adding that Kiev’s forces had started to give themselves up in all parts of the front line in the region. The Ukrainian military’s reserves “are depleting,” said Alaudinov, who was appointed deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces in April.
Earlier on Saturday, the general reported on his Telegram channel that at least five Ukrainian fighters had been taken prisoner by the Special Forces unit over the past few days, including one member of the neo-Nazi Azov regiment.
A video showing almost a dozen Ukrainian POWs being escorted by Russian soldiers also surfaced on social media. According to RIA Novosti, which obtained the clip, the footage shows soldiers from one unit of Kiev’s 22nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, which laid down arms “in an orderly fashion” and contacted the Russian military through a special Telegram channel.
A total of 24 Ukrainian soldiers who served with the unit surrendered, RIA reported. According to the news agency, they were taken prisoner near the village of Komarovka, around 12 miles from Russia’s border with Ukraine.
Footage shows the Ukrainian servicemen walking in a line with their hands behind their backs. Russian soldiers armed with assault rifles are seen escorting them. At least 17 Ukrainian POWs are seen in the video.
Russian Telegram channels linked to the nation’s military also claimed that Ukrainian soldiers have started to “massively” lay down their arms in recent days. Some surrendered immediately after crossing the border, the channels claimed.
The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the reports yet and has not published official information on the total number of Ukrainian POWs that surrendered in Kursk Region.
In its latest statement on the situation in the area, the ministry said Kiev’s forces had lost 300 soldiers and 31 pieces of heavy equipment in Kursk Region over the past 24 hours, including three tanks and a German-made IRIS-T air defense system.
The Ukrainian military launched an incursion into the Russian border region last week. In total, it has lost more than 3,100 soldiers, 44 tanks, and 43 armored personnel carriers, as well as five air defense systems and six multiple rocket launchers since the start of the operation, according to Russian Defense Ministry estimates.
Russia accused the Ukrainian military of indiscriminately targeting civilians during the Kursk Region attack. Earlier this week, acting Governor Aleksey Smirnov said that 12 people were killed and more than 120 were wounded during the incursion. Over 120,000 people have been evacuated from the area, he added.