Ukraine's capture of hundreds of Russian conscripts in Kursk region undermines Putin's war rhetoric
In a northern Ukrainian prison, young Russian conscripts captured during Ukraine’s incursion into Russian territory await their fate. Ukraine sees them as crucial bargaining chips, while their families back in Russia are demanding their swift return.
In an undisclosed prison in northern Ukraine’s Sumy region, an area that borders Russia along its Kursk region and a small portion of its Belgorod region, Russian prisoners of war are being held captive.
The men are mostly young, mostly inexperienced and were mostly surprised to find themselves caught in the firing lines of a Ukrainian attack on Russian territory that began two weeks ago.
“They are between 18 and 20 years old,” said FRANCE 24 correspondent Gulliver Cragg, who was granted a chance to visit the prison by the Ukrainian ministry of defence on Tuesday. “We saw them being fed. They did not seem to be in ill health, [though] some had injuries,” he reported. But in general, Cragg said he witnessed “reasonably good relations” with the Ukrainian guards who are holding them.
One Ukrainian guard he spoke to was joking around with a Russian prisoner about his injuries. “Then, rather seriously, he said that he really considered these people to be enemy combatants and that they bear responsibility for what they did,” Cragg recounted. “But [he said] you can’t live without a joke and that you have to respect the Geneva Convention, which clearly states you should treat people in your custody as human beings.”
But something did. And now the anger felt by families of Russian conscripts is coming to a boiling point as they hear of their loved ones being taken to Ukrainian prisons.
Read more on FRANCE 24 English
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