MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Many Ukrainian soldiers have voluntarily surrendered or been captured over recent weeks, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said.

"Shoigu noted that over the past three-four weeks, a lot of Ukrainian troops have been captured or surrendered voluntarily. They are telling about poor morale in Ukrainian units," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

During a meeting with personnel from Russia’s Battlegroup East, the top Russian military official also asked them how the adversary’s behavior had changed. "They are in panic, we know all their approaches, ins and outs, we keep beating them without mercy," the Russian servicemen replied.

One of the soldiers told the defense minister about four Ukrainian troops captured on Tuesday. According to him, all four of them lived in Lvov, were called up and "practically immediately sent to the frontline."