Some are wounded, most are very young and all want to go home. President Volodymyr Zelensky calls Russian soldiers captured in the lightning offensive into the Kursk region, Ukraine’s “exchange fund.”
He hopes the prisoners of war taken in the surprise push that caught Russia off guard can be quickly exchanged for some of the 6,500 or so Ukrainian soldiers that Moscow says it holds.
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“This operation has become our largest investment in the process of releasing Ukrainians from Russian captivity,” Zelensky said last week.
“We have already captured the largest number of Russian prisoners in one operation.”
Ukraine has said large numbers of Russian servicemen – reportedly in the hundreds – gave themselves up during the offensive that began on Aug. 6.
AFP asked for access to some of the POWs being held just across the border in Ukraine’s Sumy region.
Though Ukrainian guards were standing nearby, the prisoners did not appear to be talking under duress.
One 22-year-old Russian POW – a conscript – said he and others were “simply abandoned by our command” when Ukrainian troops appeared.
“Everything was normal, everything was fine. And then this unexpected moment turned everything upside down,” he said, sitting on a bunk in his cell.
“It was unexpected,” he repeated.
The young man, who wore checked trousers and plastic slippers, said his hope was “to be exchanged and go back home – back home to my family.”
Another detainee, a 42-year-old border guard with a bandaged leg, said he was captured on the first day of the offensive.
“There was a complete encirclement and there were no opportunities to break through. So the decision was made to surrender,” he said.
“I hope that they will exchange me and I will return home. My biggest hope is that, of course,” he said.
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