Ukrainian mothers have been urged to come ‘collect’ Russian troops seized during the conflict.
‘A decision has been taken to hand over captured Russian troops to their moms if they come to collect them in Ukraine, in Kyiv,’ the Ukrainian defense ministry stated in a statement, seemingly in a bid to shame Moscow.
According to the Kyiv Independent, Ukrainian residents are giving detained Russians drink and food and allowing them to video speak with their mothers.
It comes after Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk requested assistance from the International Red Cross in repatriating Russian soldiers’ bodies.
‘There are thousands of invaders’ bodies,’ she stated last week. This is a humane requirement.
‘We demand that the invaders’ bodies be removed from Ukrainian land and transported to Russia.’
‘We again appeal to Russians to reduce the number of bodies of your sons and men; otherwise, there will be thousands of them.’ ‘I repeat: triumph will be ours.’
According to the Ukrainian military, a platoon of Russian soldiers who surrendered last week said they were unaware they had been ordered out to kill.
The platoon’s commander is supposed to have stated in a statement that he had learned of the invasion the day before and thought they were heading home.
‘Nobody thought we were going to kill,’ according to a comment attributed to the commander, Konstantin Buynichev. We weren’t fighting; we were gathering information.’
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, reaffirmed the charges at a press conference in Washington.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is currently on its seventh day, and it is not progressing according to plan.