Ukraine has urged Russian soldiers fighting in the country to surrender and in return promised them protection. Ukraine guarantees “life, security and justice for all those who immediately refuse to fight,” Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said in a Russian-language video released on Friday. “You can still save Russia from tragedy and the Russian army from humiliation.”
Ukraine will ensure that Russian commanders who “issued criminal orders” are brought to court, Reznikov said. “You have been deceived and deceived,” emphasized the defense minister. It’s easier for commanders to “say you died heroically fighting imaginary NATO hordes”. Although NATO countries have supplied Ukraine with weapons, it is “Ukrainian soldiers who are attacking you with these weapons”.
The Ukrainian army has been carrying out counter-offensives in the south and east of the country for weeks and has now managed to recapture large areas from the hands of Russian troops. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on Thursday night that thousands of Russian troops were withdrawing after the front line collapsed, first in the northeast and then, since the beginning of the week, also in the south. In his daily video speech, he said Ukrainian forces had retaken more than 500 square kilometers and dozens of towns in the Kherson region. This information could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian sources, at least eleven people were killed when residential buildings were bombed in the city of Zaporizhia. Another 21 residents were rescued from the rubble after Russian attacks on Thursday, some seriously injured, the Ukrainian civil defense said on Friday. Photos show rescue workers digging through rubble to find missing people. According to the information, two multi-story houses were hit by the rockets.
The Zaporizhia region is one of four regions officially annexed by Russia about a week ago, along with Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk. So far, Russian troops have occupied about 70% of the region – but not the regional capital Zaporizhia itself.
Russian news agency TASS reported that at least five people were killed when Ukrainian forces bombed a bus in the Russian-controlled part of the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. French news agency AFP also reported that five were injured, citing pro-Russian representatives. The attack took place as a bus carrying civilians passed over the Darievski bridge near the village of Darivka, the Russian-based regional authority said. Videos from the state-run Zvezda news agency shared by Russian forces showed the burned-out wreckage of a bus and a badly damaged van behind it.
Pro-Russian separatists also announced on Friday the capture of three villages near the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. The day before, the Russian army had already announced the capture of one of the villages in its daily balance sheet. The villages are south of the Ukrainian-controlled city of Bakhmut, which the Russian army has been trying to capture for months without success.
About 62,000 Russian soldiers killed
According to information from the Ukrainian Army General Staff, Russia has lost around 61,680 troops in Ukraine so far, media platform Ukrinform reported on Friday. Over the course of yesterday, their number has increased by 350.
According to British military experts, the Ukrainian army is now making extensive use of vehicles captured from the invading Russian army. More than half of the deployed Ukrainian tanks come from Moscow stockpiles, according to the British Defense Ministry’s daily intelligence update on the war in Ukraine on Friday. “Ukraine has probably captured at least 440 main battle tanks and around 650 armored vehicles since the invasion.”
The failure of Russian aircrews to destroy operational material before retreating or surrendering shows how poorly trained Russian soldiers are and how low morale is. The Russians are likely to continue to lose heavy weapons, he said.
The British Ministry of Defense has published daily information on the course of the war since the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in late February, citing intelligence information. In doing so, the British government wants to counter the Russian portrait and keep the allies in line. Moscow accuses London of a targeted disinformation campaign. (apa,afp,Portal,dpa)