In an apparent attempt to embarrass Moscow, the Ukrainian defence ministry said: ‘A decision has been taken to hand over captured Russian troops to their mothers if they come to collect them in Ukraine, in Kyiv.’
Ukraine Invites Russian Mothers To Come And Get Their Captured Sons In Kyiv
Ukraine has invited mothers to come and ‘collect’ Russian troops captured during the ongoing conflict in the country.
In an apparent attempt to embarrass Moscow, the Ukrainian defence ministry said: ‘A decision has been taken to hand over captured Russian troops to their mothers if they come to collect them in Ukraine, in Kyiv.’
Kyiv Independent reports that Ukrainian civilians are providing captured Russians with tea and food, and are letting them call their mothers via video chat.
It comes after Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk asked for the International Red Cross to help repatriate the dead bodies of Russian soldiers, Metro UK reports.
Last week she said: ‘There are thousands of invaders’ bodies. This is a humanitarian need.
‘We ask for the bodies of the invaders to leave Ukrainian territory and go to Russia.
‘We call upon Russians again to make it so that there are fewer bodies of your sons, of your men, otherwise, there will be thousands of them. I say it again, victory will be ours.’
Last week a platoon of Russian soldiers who surrendered claimed they weren’t aware they had been sent out to kill, according to the Ukrainian military.
In a statement released on Thursday, the platoon’s commander is said to have claimed he only learned of the invasion the day before and believed they were going to return home.
A quote attributed to the commander, named as Konstantin Buynichev, said: ‘Nobody thought that we were going to kill. We were not going to fight – we were collecting information.’
The claims were reiterated by Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, at a press conference in Washington, DC on Thursday.
Russia is now on the seventh day of its invasion of Ukraine, and is nowhere near running to schedule.
Forces have been running out of as they haven’t brought enough supplies with them, assuming they would have had a quick victory in Kyiv.
Launching a three-pronged attack has made supplying soldiers more of a challenge.
Troops have been met with far greater resistance from the Ukrainian people than was expected, and the longer the operation drags on, the more their morale is likely to fall.
Since the attack by Russia started on February 24, Ukraine has suffered widespread damages and loss of life amid Russia's major bombing campaign.
The majority of attacks have been focused in the capital city of Kyiv, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is currently based.
Russian President Vladamir Putin is prepared to resume talks with Ukraine tonight in a bid to end the war, according to a Kremlin spokesperson.