Almost all prisoners were conscripts, only 20% called themselves contract or mobilized soldiers.
Over the past 10 days, 320 Russian soldiers captured in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, on their way to other places of detention in Ukraine, passed through one of the Ukrainian prisons. Almost all of them were conscripts, only 20% identified themselves as contract soldiers or mobilized, wrote The Washington Post, citing the prison warden, who spoke on condition of anonymity to ensure his whereabouts were will not be disclosed.
When Ukraine unexpectedly invaded the Kursk region last week, young, untrained conscripts from cities, towns and villages across Russia found themselves on a new front line unprepared to defend it , the newspaper said.
“We don’t want to fight under any circumstances. We were promised that we would not join the battle. But something went wrong,” 22-year-old Nikolai from the city of Chelyabinsk told reporters.
When asked who made the promise, he replied: “President Vladimir Putin.”
The article explains that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine allowed a small group of journalists, including one from the Washington Post, to talk to prisoners held in the prison while keeping its location a secret. Prison staff were present in the cells during the communications, but did not monitor the conversations, intervene, or review the material before publication.
The WP journalists explained who they were, said the material would be published, and asked each captive interviewed if he wanted to talk. Some of them refused, others agreed, the article said. The prisoners spoke on the condition that only their names be used,
WP wrote that most of them remained unharmed, in which journalists also spoke, how they were injured in the battle before they were captured. One of them said that he injured himself by detonating a grenade, because he hoped that he would die and not be caught. According to him, the Ukrainian military gave him first aid and then evacuated him to a clinic, where he underwent X-rays and surgery, which removed shrapnel from his wounds.
The prisoners said they were treated well and given medical care. The bandages of the wounded looked clean, and the prisoners said they were fed three times a day and allowed to bathe. WP journalists overheard them exchanging jokes with Ukrainian guardians. The article also states that along with the journalists, the captured Russian military personnel were visited by Red Cross employees.
Let’s recall that the previous President Vladimir Zelensky thanked the Ukrainian military for their effective action to replenish the exchange fund.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.