A captured Russian soldier has begged his family not to believe Moscow ‘propaganda’ as he claimed Putin’s troops are killing children in the Ukraine.
The soldier, who has been captured by Ukrainian forces, urged people not to trust what they hear on Russian television as he claimed that the Kremlin are ‘brainwashing’ people.
In a video, which was shared to Facebook by the Security Service of Ukraine, the soldier claims that Russian troops are killing civilians and babies in the Ukraine.
He says: ‘What is happening here [in the Ukraine] is all Russia’s fault. Neither Ukraine nor anyone else. They [Russian troops] killing people civilians. Babies are being murdered.’
A soldier, who has been captured by Ukrainian forces, urged people not to trust what they hear on Russian television as he claimed that the Kremlin are ‘brainwashing’ people
The fighter, whose name is not known, insists that although he is a ‘captive of the Ukrainians’ he is fine and there is ‘nothing to worry about’ as he sends a message to Russian citizens.
He claims the Russian government is ‘brainwashing’ its citizens and said it is not true that Ukrainians are ‘a bad people’ as he described Russian troops as ‘cannon meat’.
The Kremlin has engaged in a propaganda campaign designed to favourably mould the narrative through state-owned media channels.
The serviceman claims that around 8,000 to 10,000 soldiers have been killed since the invasion began, a claim disputed by Moscow who released contesting figures for the first time earlier on Wednesday.
‘We’re the aggressor, we’re the destroyers. So, as they say, we’re the cannon meat,’ he says.
The soldier goes on to say that he was wounded in the Ukraine but has since been treated as he described Ukrainian citizens as ‘very kind’.
In a caption alongside the video, the Ukrainian Security Service wrote: ‘The tanker-aggressor begs his relatives not to trust a single word that is heard on Russian television, because the Kremlin authorities are deliberately brainwashing with lies.
‘The occupier admits that Russia is the aggressor, their troops are beating civilians and killing children. At the same time, he says that for him, captivity is ‘the only chance for survival’.”
‘He will live, but will not go unpunished! Let’s win together!’
It comes after footage shows a surrendered soldier from Putin’s forces breaking down in tears as he speaks to his mother on the phone after being comforted and fed by Ukrainian women
It is the latest in a string of videos, which have gone viral on social media, showing Russian soldiers in the Ukraine surrendering and claiming they had no idea they were being sent into a war zone.
Earlier this week, another video showed a Russian soldier breaking down in tears as he spoke to his mother on the phone after surrendering to Ukrainians.
The footage showed a young fighter from Putin’s forces being comforted by a group of women after throwing down his weapon. One of the women tells him ‘everything his OK’ while patting him on the back.
He is then seen drinking tea and eating a pasty as another woman offers him a phone. The young prisoner of war blows kisses as his mother answers, and bursts into tears as soon as he sees her.
One of the other women is heard speaking to her down the phone, saying: ‘Natasha, God be with you. We will call you later. He is alive and healthy.’
A male voice off camera is heard saying in Ukrainian: ‘These young men, it’s not their fault. They don’t know why they are here. They are using old maps, they are lost.’
The emotional clip shared on Twitter shows local Ukrainians welcoming the soldier with food after his reported surrender.
It was captioned: ‘Russian soldiers, surrender, Ukrainian people will feed you, just surrender.’
The video has since gone viral in both Ukraine and Russia, with people praising the compassion shown by the Ukrainian women towards the man who has been ordered to invade their country.
Others have noted how young the man is – like many Russian soldiers that have been captured by Ukraine’s forces.
Other footage showed Russian prisoners of war weeping and claiming they had no idea they were being sent into a war zone rather than to act as peacekeepers.
Captured men said they had no idea they were being sent to invade Ukraine and were used like ‘cannon fodder’ by commanders who threw them into battle against ‘peaceful people defending their territory’ after Vladimir Putin’s forces took heavy losses in the opening days of the conflict.
Captured Russian soldiers (left and right), speaking in video posted to the Ukraine security services’ Facebook page, claimed they were ‘deceived’ and did not realise they were going to invade Ukraine
In separate video posted on Telegram showed soldiers saying they were ‘demoralised’ when they realised they were being sent to fight in Ukraine. ‘We were told we would be enemies of the state and because it’s wartime, we might even be shot if we refused. We were thrown in as cannon fodder’
‘This is not our war. Mothers and wives, collect your husbands. There is no need to be here,’ an injured soldier sat in front of a Ukrainian flag was filmed saying.
Other footage showed handcuffed Russian prisoner crying, while saying: ‘They don’t even pick up the corpses, there are no funerals’.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said Russian mothers could could come to Kyiv and collect their sons who had been taken prisoner.
In a verified post on social media, officials claimed mothers could make the arduous journey to the Ukrainian capital from Russia if they had found that their child was in captivity.
‘It was decided to give the captured Russian soldiers to their mothers if they come to Ukraine, to Kyiv for them,’ it read.
The ministry provide an email address and phone numbers that could be used to find out if a soldier was ‘in captivity or had died’.
Ukraine war, day 5: Russian forces are now attempting to skirt around Kyiv and encircle it from the west. Troops fighting out of Crimea continue to make gains and are likely to surround Mariupol soon, while also reaching the outskirts of a key Ukrainian nuclear plant. Fighting in the east continues to be heavy with no breakthrough for Putin
If they wanted to collect the child they would have to get to Kaliningrad or Minsk in Belarus before taking a taxi to the Polish border where they could then be escorted to a handover point.
It comes as Moscow admitted that nearly 500 of its troops have been killed and 1,600 more have been injured in its first report of casualties from fighting since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s savage invasion of Ukraine.
The figures, released on Wednesday, come days after Russia claimed it had not suffered any casualties in the war.
The Kremlin has engaged in a propaganda campaign designed to favourably mould the narrative through state-owned media channels, but has insisted its losses are considerably lower than the figures offered by Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week claimed that around 9,000 Russian soldiers had been killed since the invasion began, a claim disputed by Moscow.
The leader of the besieged nation also said that his country had thwarted Russia’s ‘sneaky’ plans, saying he was proud of the ‘heroic’ resistance to Moscow’s shocking invasion.
‘We are a nation that broke the enemy’s plans in a week. Plans written for years: sneaky, full of hatred for our country, our people,’ Zelensky said in a video posted across multiple social media channels.
The president said he ‘sincerely admired the heroic residents’ of cities who have resisted the advance of Russian forces.
‘Our military, our border guards, our territorial defence, even ordinary farmers capture the Russian military every day,’ he said in the video, similar to several others he has previously recorded during the war.
‘All the captives say only one thing: they do not know why they are here. Despite the fact that there are dozens of times more than them, the morale of the enemy is constantly deteriorating.’
Zelensky’s comments was posted before Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and many other cities around the country came under heavy fire from Putin’s forces. Videos in Kyiv showed at least two huge explosions light up the night sky at around 2am local time, while Kherson city in the south was reportedly brought under Russia’s complete control.
Meanwhile, the command of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces warned that it would no longer take Russian artillerymen as prisoner of war in response to their ‘brutal shelling’ of cities.
‘Each and every gun crew… will be slaughtered like pigs,’ a statement on Wednesday evening said.
The United Nations Refugee Agency reported Thursday morning that over 1 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the war, which has so far claimed thousands of lives in its first week.
Pictures and videos from Kyiv have shown thousands crowding railways stations in a desperate bid to get a ride out of the city.
