Chris Lange, FISM News
[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]
Video footage taken by a Ukrainian night vision drone allegedly captured the dramatic moment when a Russian soldier in Bakhmut, while fired upon by his fellow troops, surrendered to Ukrainian captivity. FISM reviewed the widely circulated clip in which the soldier can be seen gesturing toward the approaching drone.
The footage shows the drone drop a canister in front of the soldier who picked it up and withdrew a piece of paper which presumably contained instructions on how to surrender. After reading its contents, he began running toward captivity as gunfire explosions went off around him.
Vitaliy Matvienko, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s “I Want to Live” surrender hotline, confirmed to Business Insider that the footage was taken by a unit of Ukraine’s 92nd Mechanized Brigade near Bakhmut and said that the soldier is safe in captivity.
Drone surrenders like this have become increasingly commonplace in the war, according to the Ukrainian report.
RUSSIAN, WAGNER FORCES PUSHED BACK IN BAKHMUT
Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut have in recent days made incremental progress in pushing back Russia’s military and Wagner group forces, according to the latest assessment of the conflict from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
“Ukrainian forces likely broke through some Russian lines in localized counterattacks near Bakhmut,” The D.C.-based think tank stated.
Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces Commander Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Moscow’s forces retreated more than a mile behind Russian lines along the Bakhmut front.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the counterattack “uncharacteristically quickly,” per the report, but denied that his forces were pushed back.
The ISW speculated that the MoD’s recent and uncharacteristic candor about Ukrainian attacks is “reflective of increased panic in the Russian information space over speculations about planned Ukrainian counteroffensives.” New Kremlin guidance reportedly ordered Russia’s military to “avoid downplaying Ukrainian successes,” per the assessment.
RUSSIA’S BLACK SEA FLEET TARGETED BY UKRAINIAN DRONE STRIKES
The commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet said that it is shoring up its defenses in response to multiple recent drone strikes targeting its Sevastopol base in the Crimean Peninsula.
“In connection with the threat of attacks by robotic surface and underwater systems, we have increased the technical defenses of the fleet’s main base and of the ships’ anchorages,” Vice Admiral Viktor Sokolov told a Russian military newspaper, per Reuters.
He noted that four new ships would be added to the fleet this year.
The Sevastopol port has been repeatedly targeted with drone strikes since the early days of the invasion. Ukraine delivered a humiliating blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin with the sinking of the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship cruiser Moskva in April 2022.
FORMER KREMLIN COMMANDER PREDICTS UKRAINE WILL LAUNCH ‘MASSIVE STRIKE’ INSIDE RUSSIA
A former Russian air commander has warned that Ukraine will likely launch its spring counteroffensive with a “massive strike” within Russia using high-precision weaponry.
Newsweek reported that Mikhail Khodaryonok, who now works as a commentator for Russian state TV, speculated that Ukraine has delayed launching its counteroffensive until it receives Western-supplied high-precision weaponry in order to mount a large-scale attack inside Russia.
“We’ve seen isolated cases of [Joint Direct Attack Munition] ammunition being used, but they are yet to be used on a large scale. HIMARS ammunition—we don’t know how much they’ve supplied or with which range either,” Khodaryonok said. “So in my view…Ukraine’s [counter] offensive operation will begin with a massive strike using that high-precision weaponry as deep as possible on all possible sites in Russia. Primarily infrastructure sites, of course,” he added.