Ukraine reports largest surrender by Russian troops of war

MicroWave@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 362 points –
bloomberg.com
  • Ukrainian Security Service captured 102 soldiers on Wednesday
  • Russia contacted Ukraine about a prisoner swap, ombudsman says
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Just thinking out loud...

As a surrendered Russian soldier...

Would you want to be returned to your home country? Would you be safe from your military political leaders?

there's an option to join free russia battalion, probably, they don't take everyone. that's an unit within ukrainian army. service guarantees citizenship, maybe, or something

I mean, going by the Soviet-Russian land warfare doctrine, I'm guessing they weren't safe at any point after the enlistment process. Going by what their leaders are investing in and how they are engaging the world stage, I'm guessing they weren't safe before that either.

It's not fun being Russian, i suppose.

Keep them a couple of months, riling up "important" people in St Petersbourg & Moscow... No wonder Putin wants to swap asap!

They should do the swap but at the last moment change them with some poor idiots from the provinces instead of the sons of moscowites here.

New russian strategy: flood the prisoner camps of Ukraine. It's a variation of a zerg rush.

So there will be a prisoner swap later... In Russia, what kind of reception might a soldier get once it's learned that they surrendered? At best they'll immediately be sent back to the front?

one wagner soldier was infamously executed with a sledgehammer when he was let back into his unit

I am curious how these soldiers differ from the ones being used in offensive operations. I suspect they would be border guard units or reservists.

Haven't found any images of unit insignias or any ID from this latest batch, curious to know what units are involved

Interesting situation overall

Young conscripts from western Russia usually, the type with parents in Moscow that Putin actually cares about

You're absolutely right. That's why they're surrendering en masse. Because they had no intentions of being involved in any war.

Ukraine should hold a fake trial and convict them all, then sentence them to death like the Russians do. This will ratchet up the pressure and make Russia give more concessions.

While that’s what I feel in my heart too - every dead invader is a joyful event - you generally don’t want to do that.

You WANT opposition troops to surrender. In fact, you want to make that the most preferred option for them. If Russian troops would know that surrender only results in death, they basically HAVE to keep fighting. Which is what you don’t want.

That’s also why Russian soldiers were told that ‘Ukrainians are nazi’s who will kill you if you surrender’: it’s a lie to make surrender unattractive.

As much as it pains me to say this, it really is the best option to keep them alive.