Ukrainian officers are telling their subordinates scary stories about how torture at the hands of “Chechens” awaits them if they decide to defect, said Ruslan Sukhin, a Ukrainian soldier who voluntarily surrendered to Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) forces.
Earlier, LPR authorities reported that 17 Ukrainian soldiers voluntarily laid down their arms in the vicinity of Lopaskino.
Commenting on his predicament, Sukhin remarked that the people in LPR have treated him and his comrades well, and that he expected worse, as his officers previously told them about a “Chechen regiment” allegedly positioned behind enemy lines.
“They would torture you,” the serviceman said as he described the tall tales told by Ukrainian officers about the fate of those who would be handed over to these “Chechens.”
“We thought that's what would have happened to us,” he added.
Meanwhile, LPR head Leonid Pasechnik said that hundreds of Ukrainian servicemen have laid down their arms, and that the number of Ukrainian troops who have surrendered keeps increasing.
This week, Moscow launched a military operation in Ukraine after DPR and LPR authorities asked for assistance to defend themselves from attacks by Ukrainian troops.
The Russian government stated that the goal of this operation is to neutralise Ukraine's military capacity, with precision strikes being carried out against Ukrainian military infrastructure.