New pictures show Russian prisoners of war looking broken after being detained at a location in northeastern Ukraine, after being captured during Kyiv’s surprise cross-border advance earlier this month.
News agency AFP captured images of the Russian troops on Monday, somewhere in the Sumy region, as the war between Russia and Ukraine rages on.
Some of the soldiers appear to have sustained injuries as Ukraine continues its push into Russia’s Kursk Oblast region, with one fitted with an external fixator for an apparent broken arm, while another is shown lying down with scarred and bandaged legs.
It comes after Ukraine launched a shock incursion into Russia on August 6, quickly seizing territory and pushing 15 miles inland from the international border.
Vladimir Putin’s troops appeared to have been unprepared for the bold push by Volodymr Zelensky’s forces, with authorities forced to evacuate over 200,000 people.
It’s not confirmed exactly how many Russian troops were taken prisoner during the first two weeks of the invasion, but photo and video footage indicates there have been numerous instances of large-scale surrenders, involving dozens of Russian troops, according to international affairs think tank Atlantic Council.
On August 11, a Ukrainian project that provides support to surrendering Russian troops published a video of prisoners of war (POWs), three of whom claimed to have come from Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechen republic.
Ukraine’s 225th Separate Assault Battalion also published a photo of multiple recovered Russian military identity documents on August 13.
Some seemed to belong to members of Chechen units, though it added that identification of the fighters had been “complicated by the condition of the bodies.”
It’s thought the attack also aimed to divert Russian troops away from the frontlines in Donetsk, where they continue to make substantial gains.
The Kursk attack reportedly caused anger and confusion in Moscow, with officials referring to it as “situation”, a “terrorist attack” or “the events in Kursk region”, without referring to an invasion or areas coming under Ukrainian control.
Meanwhile, Russia’s army is edging closer to the strategically important Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, as they seek to make a breakthrough, with Kyiv’s troops facing aerial bombardments and round-the-clock assaults from infantry, as they desperately attempt to hold their positions.
Russia has been making slow advances in the east of Ukraine as its invasion, which began in February 2022 continues.
