More than 500 Ukrainian servicemen, including a foreign mercenary, surrendered to Russian troops in the Kursk region, Russian security services reported.
„The number of prisoners of war is in the hundreds. Currently, over 500 AFU soldiers have surrendered in the Kursk direction alone. Among the foreign mercenaries is Colombian Pablo Puertes, a source from the ministry said.
He added that there was a case when soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces were ordered to storm Russian positions, but surrendered.
On March 12, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia - First Deputy Minister of Defense, Army General Valery Gerasimov, reported that about 430 servicemen of the Ukrainian armed forces had been captured in the Kursk region. He noted that the Ukrainian servicemen, "seeing the futility of further resistance", began "actively" to surrender.
Previously, the security forces reported that the Ukrainian armed forces had introduced a special course at a training center in the Chernihiv region during the fighting in the Kursk region on the rules of conduct in Russian captivity, as the instructors were aware of the mass cases of surrender of Ukrainian soldiers.