Vladimir Putin’s forces in the Kursk region could not surrender fast enough after coming under huge attack, a Ukrainian soldier has claimed.
Kyiv’s army stunned the Kremlin after launching a lightning raid across its border and into Russia on August 6.
Ukraine’s army now claims to control over 500 square miles of Russia territory and some 100 settlements.
In addition, the head of the army General Syrsky said his troops had captured almost 600 Russian prisoners.
One soldier who took part in the Kursk incursion is 35-year-old junior Sergeant Maksim, a former chef on a British oil tanker.
His unit captured 28 “terrified” Russians after a tank pointed its turret at their bunker.
He told The Sun’s Jerome Starkey that the Russian soldiers were “not in the mood for fighting” and were “afraid”.
“They held up their weapons to show they surrendered then we pointed our guns upwards to show that we accepted,” he added.
The Kremlin is scrambling to contain the incursion, as it rushes reinforcements to the region.
Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Moscow had relocated 30,000 troops to Kursk from other parts of the frontlines.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank estimated that Russia would need 60,000 soldiers to win back territory in Kursk once Ukrainian defences were dug in.
However, Putin’s army continues to make gains around the strategic city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s east.
Russian troops are now just five miles from the Donetsk city, whose capture would be a major blow for Ukraine.
Pokrovsk is one of two key rail and road junctions in the Donetsk region.
Its capture would threaten the entire region’s logistics for Kyiv’s military, according to Frontelligence Insight – a Ukrainian analytical group.
Ukraine redeployed thousands of some of its most experienced units from the eastern front to take part in the Kursk raid.
