MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. Assault teams of Russia’s Battlegroup North captured seven Ukrainian army commandos near Volchansk in the Kharkov Region, Ukrainian prisoner-of-war (POW) from the Brotherhood battalion Demid Netrevozhko told reporters on Thursday.
Specifically, Russian troops captured three fighters of the battalion Brotherhood from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Department, four fighters of the Sonechko battalion, and also seven border guards, he said.
"The military command told me and another fighter to take food, water and ammunition and stay for three days in a stronghold held by border guards near Volchansk. On the 10th day of the month, we were expected to depart but another reinforcement of two fighters arrived. An assault began and we surrendered," the POW said.
In all, there were four soldiers of the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Department and eight border guards in the stronghold. During the assault by Russian troops, one border guard and one soldier of the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Department were killed, the POW said.
Netrevozhko said that he had been wounded as the battle began: a grenade exploded near him and its fragments hit his leg and his thigh. He decided to hide in a dugout and initially he was taken for a fallen soldier. The next day, Russian troops found him and rendered him first medical aid and evacuated him from the stronghold, he said.
Another POW, Alexander Matlai from the Sonechko battalion whose unit also stayed near Volchansk said that he had been in a dugout together with four other fellow servicemen. They performed the role of an evacuation group for wounded and killed soldiers. Russian troops began to storm the stronghold and a grenade hit the dugout and a stationary radio began to smoke from its explosion. As Matlai said, he and three fellow servicemen surrendered because they could not breathe in the dugout due to the smoke.