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Military operation in Ukraine

Captive Ukrainian soldier reveals main goal of operation in Russia’s Kursk Region

According to the captive Ukrainian service member, after the shelling attack began, the troops went to hide in basements

MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/. The main goal of Ukrainian troops involved in an attack on Russia’s borderline Kursk Region was to make videos for their commanders, a captive Ukrainian service member said.

"We were riding armored personnel carriers, heading towards the town of Sudzha. We had been tasked with making videos in the village of Gordeyevka. That is, we were supposed to make videos for the commanders, demonstrating our achievements. As we moved on, a heavy blast occurred; when I recovered my senses I realized that there’s no one around, no signs of evacuation," the soldier said in a report broadcast on the Rossiya-24 TV channel, which had been provided by war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny.

According to the captive Ukrainian service member, after the shelling attack began, the Ukrainian troops went to hide in basements. "Later, evacuation orders came and we started to retreat; but that was when drone attacks began," he added.

The TV channel said earlier that Poddubny had been seriously injured in a drone attack in the Kursk Region and taken to the hospital.

On August 6, the borderline Kursk Region came under a massive attack from Ukraine. Shelling and drone strikes killed five civilians and injured 31 people, including six children. Army General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said that Russian troops would complete their operation in the Kursk Region by defeating Ukrainian forces and regaining control of the border. According to Gerasimov, the Ukrainian assault involved up to 1,000 servicemen. The enemy lost 315 troops, with at least 100 of them killed, as well as 54 pieces of equipment, including seven tanks.

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