Ukrainian paratroopers have captured ten Russian soldiers in Russia’s border Kursk region despite Kremlin’s earlier claims that the region was fully recaptured from Ukrainians.
The Communications Directorate of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces Command shared the video of the captured Russian servicemen in its official Facebook page on Saturday. The Directorate claimed that the captured Russian troops had being subjected to inhumane treatment, psychological pressure, and threats by their own commanders while still in Russian territory. Furthermore, it stated that the Russian prisoners of war were provided with necessary medical and psychological aid. The video showed the Russian soldiers in captivity.
The capture of Russian soldiers in Kursk came over a week after Kyiv and Moscow exchanged 1,000 prisoners of war in the largest prisoner swap in the three years of war. It should be noted that on May 25, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed it captured 971 Russian military personnel during operations in Kursk region.
Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported that the Ukrainian army units re-entered Russia’s Kursk region after tactical retreat. The statement came a month after the Russian Defence Ministry announced the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region that was subjected to a surprise cross-border incursion in August last year. Ukraine captured swathes of lands in the region to gain an upper hand during future peace talks. Ukraine’s attack on Kursk marked the largest incursion into Russian territory since the end of the World War II.
Meanwhile, last week, President Vladimir Putin announced that the Russian army was establishing a “safety buffer zone” along the regions bordering Ukraine in Moscow’s apparent attempt to stop Ukraine’s incursions.
