Russian soldiers holed up for three days in a trench and surrounded by Ukrainian troops finally surrendered – after being told to by a drone.
Extraordinary footage shows nine Russian assault troops holding a white flag on a stick and snaking towards a Ukrainian stronghold in the Donetsk region after being lured out.
Ukrainian fighters used drones mounted with speakers to secure the surrender of a group of Russian soldiers on the frontline.
The Putin stormtroopers were not ready to die for the dictator in what could be the final weeks of the war, it seems, as one captured Russian revealed how they were becoming beaten down.
The Russian troops were demoralised by the appalling number of corpses of their own side, according to testimony from POWs.
They also highlighted how quickly after deployment to the front they end up in Ukrainian hands.
One revealed he had been fighting for less than two weeks before his capture and the final days of this short stint were spent hopelessly surrounded by enemy fighters.
After trapping the Russian troops, Ukraine operators buzzed their trenches with the speaker drone, encouraging them for three days to surrender.
Members of Ukraine’s 25th Separate Airborne Sicheslav Brigade recorded the messages in Russian to offer the enemy fighters a way to save their lives.
The message told them repeatedly: “Surrender if you want to live. Walk towards the railway.”
“The brigade’s fighters tried to use a drone with a loudspeaker, which convinced the Russians to surrender for three days, and this eventually worked,” said a statement.
“The Russians themselves were extremely demotivated – according to one of the prisoners, he crossed the border with Ukraine less than a month ago, and was immediately stunned by the number of corpses of his fellow countrymen.”
“That’s it, our men have already taken them in.…What a sight! Nine people.”
Drone footage shows the nine uneasy Russian soldiers slowly emerging from their trench waving a white flag on a stick and holding their arms in the air.
A deflated Russian fighter explained why he obeyed the drone loudspeaker call to surrender.
“Our side were putting [the bodies] in pile after pile, quickly checking military ID tag, and then driving [the corpses] away,” he said.
“There were so many trucks deployed to do it.
“It broke me down, the realisation of just how many [killed] there were….”
One of the captives made clear he wanted to be swapped – and then get away from the war in Russia’s wild taiga.
“Yes, I do hope to be exchanged, and I hope to somehow be done with it, to go into the wilderness or I don’t know what,” he said.
“I crossed the border with Ukraine on 22 January 2025 in the Donetsk region, and here I am in less than two weeks.”
It comes as the future of the conflict is uncertain, with a possible peace deal arrange between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on the horizon.
But President Zelensky has said his country will not accept a deal negotiated between Trump and Putin without Ukraine’s involvement.
The fate of the country is hanging in the balance as world powers meeting in Munich and tensions continue to mount.
On Wednesday night, Trump announced immediate negotiations to end the war in Ukraine after speaking with Putin by phone for 90 minutes.
But Zelensky has warned the West against trusting Putin amid fears his embattled nation is being frozen out of peace talks with Russia.
He has been backed by allies including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who insisted that Ukraine must play a central role in negotiations to end the three-year conflict.
Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to push on seemingly ignoring fellow leaders and warning from Ukraine to arrange a meeting with Putin in Saudi Arabia as he says he wants Russia back in G7 group.
The European Commission has fired a warning to the White House about continuing to show engagement with Russia.
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