A Russian soldier was offered the chance to surrender after he begged a Ukrainian drone not to bomb him in Bakhmut. Touching aerial footage published by the Ukrainian military, which has not been verified, shows the moment one of Putin’s troops is given the option to give himself up. Instead of an explosive, a message containing details on how to give himself up is dropped down to him.
He is told to climb out of his trench and onto open terrain to be escorted to a Ukrainian position by the drone.
The soldier appears to agree to surrender as he signals he will follow the drone over the bodies of dead Russian troops and into Ukrainian captivity.
Yurii Fedorenko, a drone commander in Ukraine’s 92nd Mechanised Brigade, shared a video of the peace offering on Telegram.
Fedorenko wrote: “Bakhmut: a charitable act from the armed forces of Ukraine on May 9.
“The unmanned combat aerial vehicle squad detected a Russian soldier, who asked not to bomb him.
“Our team dropped him a note with a request to surrender and follow a drone. He agreed, although his ‘fellows’ were firing at his back.”
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Mykhailo Fedorov, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister, said the soldier was now in custody.
He said: “The enemy noticed the drone and began to make gestures to show a desire to surrender.
“Infantrymen and scouts accompanied him all the way to Ukrainian positions.”
Express.co.uk was unable to independently verify the video.
The remarkable footage comes as Ukrainian forces made considerable advances in the Bakhmut area this week, according to Ukrainian ground forces commander Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.
The claim could not immediately be confirmed but the head of the Russian private army Wagner, which has led the grinding assault on Bakhmut, said that his forces were considering pulling back because of insufficient ammunition.
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has previously complained that Russia wasn’t adequately supplying his fighters and said on Telegram on Wednesday: “I demand ammunition in order to save the lives of the fighters and put the squeeze on” Bakhmut, of which there is only about 5 percent left occupied by the enemy.”
