The Ukrainian defence ministry is said to have set up a hotline
Ukraine has reportedly invited mums to come and “collect” captured Russian fighters as reports continue to emerge of demoralised and disillusioned troops as the battle continues into its seventh day.
In what seems like an obvious attempt to embarrass Moscow, Metro reported that the Ukrainian defence ministry has said: “A decision has been taken to hand over captured Russian troops to their mothers if they come to collect them in Ukraine, in Kyiv.”
https://twitter.com/ServiceSsu/status/1498736478570135554
Further reports suggest that a hotline has been set up for Russian parents to find out if their sons are among the dead or captured, with the defence ministry publishing a phone number and email address.
“You will be received and taken to Kyiv where your son will be returned to you,” the ministry statement reportedly says. “Unlike Putin’s fascists, we Ukrainians are not waging war against mothers and their captured children.”
🇺🇦 🙌 Ukraine allows captured Russian soldiers to call home. “Another Russian prisoner with tears in his eyes calls his mother in Russia.” pic.twitter.com/31c1JCXtt8
— Venture Capital (@kelly2277) March 1, 2022
The offer comes amid reports that Russian troops are sabotaging their own military equipment in a bid to get out of the war, as forces run out of food, fuel, and fight.
The New York Times reported that soldiers had punched holes in petrol tanks. Marines are also said to have “mutinied” onboard one of Vladimir Putin’s warships and refused to attack a Ukrainian port. A final text message sent from a Russian soldier, revealed earlier this week read: “We were told they would welcome us.”
Last week Metro also reported that a platoon of Russian soldiers who surrendered claimed they weren’t aware they had been sent out to kill.
Transcript of a Russian soldier's last text messages to his mother that Ukraine's Ambassador to the UN @SergiyKyslytsya read out from screenshots at the emergency session of the UN General Assembly
(Via @VeraMBergen)pic.twitter.com/yhAS3umbfk pic.twitter.com/vHE3Uhipw4
— Geeta Mohan گیتا موہن गीता मोहन (@Geeta_Mohan) March 1, 2022
An injured Russian soldier has also been filmed, sat in front of a Ukrainian flag, saying: “This is not our war. Mothers and wives, collect your husbands. There is no need to be here,” MailOnline reported.
It said other footage shows another Russian prisoner crying, while saying: “They don’t even pick up the corpses, there are no funerals.”
Ukraine says Russia has lost 5,840 soldiers.
Ukrainian civilians, meanwhile, are reportedly providing captured Russians with tea and food, and are letting them call their mothers via video chat, Kyiv Independent reports.
A Russian soldier surrendered. Ukrainians gave him tea, food, and let him call his mother on video. I want to cry from how much I love my country. pic.twitter.com/ZiERQsyBbo
— Anastasiia Lapatina (@lapatina_) March 2, 2022
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk last week asked for the International Red Cross to help repatriate the dead bodies of Russian soldiers, saying there were “thousands” of them.
🇺🇦 DPM Iryna Vereshchuk: Ukraine has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to help evacuate bodies of the dead 🇷🇺 soldiers from Ukraine to Russia. “There are thousands of bodies of 🇷🇺 invaders. We appeal to ICRC to step in with this humanitarian mission”, she said.
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) February 26, 2022
On Wednesday, Ukrainian emergency services have that more than 2,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed during the invasion.
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