Ukraine kidnapped 150 Russian soldiers per day; see images

Ukraine has seized about 150 Russian soldiers a day in its surprise cross-border military attack in Russia’s Kursk region, which is just the first of “several stages” of combat aimed at Moscow, Kiev military officials said.

Oleksii Drozdenko, head of the military administration in the northwestern city of Sumy, said Kiev’s forces, now 12 days after the incursion began, had captured hundreds of Moscow troops while suffering only minimal casualties.

“Sometimes there are more than 100 or 150 prisoners of war a day,” Drozdenko told The Guardian of the success and the little resistance put up by Kremlin forces.

“They don’t want to fight us,” he added.

Drozdenko’s allegations came as photos emerged of Kiev trucks carrying captured soldiers from Moscow, caught completely by surprise after Ukraine launched its daring attack on Russian soil on August 6.

The military chief stressed that the raid has been a great success so far, with Sumy hospitals reporting low numbers of casualties and injuries.

“On the first day of the operation, there were only 15 casualties,” he said. “Sixty, 70 percent of them were very light, caused by bomb damage, shrapnel.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev is looking to boost its “exchange fund” during the raid for its POW deals with Russia.

Drozdenko added that the current operation in Kursk, whose ultimate goal remains a closely guarded secret in Kiev, is only the first part of Ukraine’s offensive.

“We only see part of this operation, in the future we will see several stages,” he told the UK channel.

Experts say Ukraine was largely successful in its attack on Kursk because Russia kept its border largely unguarded and unprepared while focusing on its slow but steady advances in Donbass and Donetsk.

The operation caught not only Moscow off guard, but also authorities in Sumy, who said they had received no advance warning that troops would pass through the city to enter Kursk.

The city was attacked by Russian cruise missiles and bombs, which caused a fire and left two soldiers injured on Saturday.

The announcement came as the Kremlin accused Ukrainian forces of using Western-made rockets on Friday to destroy a strategically important bridge over the Seim River in Kursk.

Ukrainian troops also reportedly struck a second bridge over the Seim, according to Oleshchuk and Russian regional governor Alexei Smirnov.

Russia’s claims could not be verified by independent reports, but if confirmed, the bridge attacks could be a way for Kiev to undermine Moscow’s attempts to rebuild its forces at Kursk to confront Ukrainian troops.

With Ukraine now controlling about 400 square miles of land in Kursk, Zelensky is seeking to lift restrictions placed on weapons supplied by its allies, including the US, to allow Kiev to fight deeper and more effectively in Russia.

“It is crucial that our partners remove the barriers that prevent us from weakening Russian positions in the manner that this war demands,” Zelensky said in a statement. “…The bravery of our soldiers and the resilience of our combat brigades compensate for the lack of essential decisions by our partners.”

With information from the New York Post