MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has released a video of Ruslan Poltoratsky, a soldier of Ukraine’s 80th separate airborne assault brigade captured in the Kursk Region, saying during interrogation that the Kiev military’s aim was to reach Kursk and Belgorod in order to later use this attack as an argument in talks on a peace treaty with Russia. According to the POW, the Ukrainian command called the operation "Ukraine's last hope."
"’We are moving forward,’ we were told. Our first aim was to reach Kursk. From Kursk we were to go as far as Belgorod, to capture more territory, so that in negotiating a peace treaty there would be an opportunity to exchange your territories for ours," he said. Poltoratsky said that the squads’ commanders were following orders from a man known by his call sign Strizh (Swift), who briefed them on all latest instructions.
"He said that this operation was Ukraine's last hope," the POW said.
Poltoratsky described some details of the operation. On July 28, the man’s unit was relocated to the forest near the village of Peschannoye, where they stayed for a week.
"After about four days, the commander who introduced himself as Strizh (Swift) - his call sign - gathered us <...>. He said literally this: ‘We are now waiting for the main forces to prepare for an attack on Russia. We are waiting. According to the plan, first one brigade enters from one side and performs its task, then the other brigades follow and perform their tasks. We are waiting to see how they will succeed’," Poltoratsky added.
Earlier, the FSB public relations center said that border guards with assistance from local residents detained a soldier of Ukraine’s 80th separate airborne assault brigade. The POW testified that they had been ordered to shoot everyone on the spot in case of resistance from the local population. When entering villages in the Kursk Region, Ukrainian soldiers engaged in looting and seized everything they could take away.
Ukraine’s massive attack on the Kursk Region began on August 6. A missile threat has been repeatedly declared. According to the Emergencies Ministry, more than 8,000 civilians have been evacuated from the border areas over the past 24 hours. More than 6,000 are in temporary accommodation centers. According to the latest information available from the Defense Ministry, Kiev has lost up to 1,350 military personnel, 29 tanks and 23 armored personnel carriers since the beginning of hostilities in the Kursk Region.