Shock and awe: Ukrainian forces seize 1,000 sq km in Russian territory
The Armed Forces of Ukraine control about 1,000 square kilometres of Russian Federation territory. Soldiers of Vladimir Putin's army are surrendering almost without a fight, and one of them described how their commanders treat them. His accounts are alarming.
Ukrainians began the operation in the Kursk region on 6 August. They quickly took over successive villages, and currently, the battles are taking place around Sudzha.
As Deutsche Welle reported on Monday afternoon, "The acting Kursk governor, Alexei Smirnov, said some 121,000 people have fled the Kursk region since the start of the fighting, and Ukrainian forces control 28 towns and villages, with their forces having penetrated 12 kilometres (7 miles) into the region."
We are grateful to all soldiers and commanders for their steadfastness and decisive actions. Among other things, they instructed the Minister of Internal Affairs, other government officials, and the SBU to prepare a humanitarian plan for the territory of the operation, said President Zelensky.
Soldiers of Vladimir Putin's army are surrendering practically without a fight, and one of them described how they are treated by their commanders. His accounts are alarming.
Officers tied us to a tree or a pipe, and we sat there with no water, nothing. Sometimes we'd sit for 24 hours, sometimes we'd sit during the daytime, revealed the Russian soldier.
Ukrainians captured a Russian in Kursk. He talks about the commanders
Among those captured was Russian Private Dmitry Sergeyevich Melnikov, pseudonym "Mel," from the Bryansk region.
The group he was in lost half of its soldiers before reaching the position they were supposed to take. When the group commander died, the remaining occupiers found themselves at the epicentre of a massacre without coordination and support. They had no choice but to surrender.
However, something else is alarming, as the man explained how the officers in their unit treat lower-ranking soldiers.
They would load the refuseniks in a vehicle and put us in a pit, and we would sit in it. When they were taking us to the pit, they took one soldier out of the vehicle. We heard a bang, and that was it. The same happened with another one later. Maybe they were scaring us or something. But I never saw those guys again, he added.
