Russian troops taken prisoner in Ukraine often claim they were forced to sign contracts with the Russian military against their will, according to Ukraine’s 63rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, which says the Kremlin may be deliberately pushing people to desperation.
After being captured, Russian troops often complain they were forced to go to war | Photo: Facebook
Rostyslav Yatsyshyn, head of communications for the 63rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Third Army Corps, described the prisoners’ complaints in a January 12 interview with 24 Kanal.
He said Russian soldiers usually lay down their arms voluntarily only when they realize they have no way out.
Yatsyshyn said that when his brigade captured Russian troops who had been hiding in a basement in their area of responsibility, the men said they went to war because they supposedly had no choice.
“They were offered life or, alternatively, to have the basement pelted with grenades. The Russians, of course, surrendered. They all say exactly the same thing: ‘I had no choice. I have family circumstances. I was in a detention center, and they told me either you sign the contract or we’ll kill you here,’” Yatsyshyn said.
He said the prisoners’ accounts may be true, but that does not absolve them of responsibility. Yatsyshyn added that Russia’s war machine drives its own population to despair in order to force people to sign up.
“They mostly don’t receive their payments, because their documents and bank cards are taken away. They aren’t treated as human,” he said of Russian soldiers.
He added that Ukraine’s Defense Forces regularly encounter opponents whom Russian commanders have pushed into assaults with little more than weapons and phones with navigation.
On January 7, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate described an operation behind Russian lines in Zaporizhzhia in which it said its forces killed and captured Russian troops and obtained important information about enemy forces.
