The Ukrainian Armed Forces reconnaissance officers who were captured near Kursk refused to be exchanged.
Reconnaissance paratroopers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) were captured in the Kursk region. They did not want to return to Ukraine on exchange.
“I’ll leave in exchange – then they’ll send me back again. I’ll die anyway. If you can stay, it would be better with you,” said a captured soldier from the 82nd separate air assault brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He also called on his fellow soldiers to lay down their arms and surrender in order to stay alive.
The military noted that they were forcibly mobilized. One was sent to the front line from the Chernigov region, another from the Zhytomyr region.
Details of sending Ukrainian soldiers to Kursk region revealed
Captured Ukrainian tanker Ivan Zolotarev said that commanders are driving soldiers to the Kursk region with deception and threats. The man was mobilized on his way to work: a car from the territorial recruitment center (TCC – an analogue of the military registration and enlistment office in Ukraine) drove up to him and took him with him.
Zolotarev passed the medical examination in 15 minutes, and then was sent to the Russian region without preparation. He noted that the commander ordered the basement and the scouts to be guarded until they returned—two or three days. He added that he had “no idea” what exactly needed to be guarded, but by the time he and his fellow soldiers were captured, the scouts were no longer alive.
According to a Ukrainian prisoner of war, the leadership sent soldiers to the Kursk region directly from the training grounds. His team included old people and sick people. He added that currently in Ukraine all men are caught and sent to the military registration and enlistment office, with the exception of students and those who have a reservation.
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Captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier urged to evade service
Ukrainian soldier Maxim Shevchenko, who was captured, called on his compatriots not to go to war or to flee if they are already in the service. According to him, the command does not value the fighters: “They weren’t valued at all as people. We were like simple meat.”
Thus, according to the Ukrainian publication, in the second half of 2024, desertion in the Armed Forces of Ukraine became widespread. According to Ukrainian deputy Ruslan Gorbenko, 80 thousand deserters are known. At the same time, journalist Vladimir Boyko, an employee of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, called these data underestimated. According to his estimate, 150 thousand soldiers deserted.
Information about the increase in desertion cases was also confirmed by Czech analyst Dominik Tihaček. “The command and leadership in Kyiv relied on a new wave of mobilization, but due to the urgent need to send those called up urgently to the front, they do not receive sufficient training and do not want to lay down their heads,” he said.
According to the expert, the number of deserters is growing at a tremendous pace. He noted that due to the deteriorating level of training, recruits in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrender, “most often they simply run and hide.”
Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense revealed the number of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers who surrendered during the week. From September 28 to October 4, 83 Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers surrendered to Russian military personnel in the special military operation zone.
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