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Astonishing moment Russian soldiers surrender with armored personnel carrier in Ukraine
A video has emerged on social media showing what appears to be three Russian soldiers surrendering to Ukrainian forces as their armored personnel carrier (APC) flies a makeshift white flag.
Vitaly Kim, head of the Nikolayev region’s military administration, shared the video on his official Telegram channel Wednesday, claiming that the Russian soldiers sold the armored vehicle to the Ukrainian military as part of the surrender process.
“We bought an BMP-2 (APC),” Kim wrote in the caption, the pro-Ukraine news outlet zn.ua reported.
The recording, which was also uploaded to the pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel “Nikolayevskiy Vanyok,” shows the armored vehicle with a piece of white cloth tied to its gun barrel approaching what appears to be a pre-arranged location.
A group of heavily armed Ukrainian soldiers are laying in wait for the vehicle’s arrival in an open field.
Once the APC is within firing range, the Ukrainians train their guns on it and order the crew to lay down their weapons.
Two Russian troops immediately comply and climb out of the vehicle with their hands raised.
“Lay on the ground! Lay on the ground!” the Ukrainians shout at the surrendering troops in Russian.
The Kyiv soldiers methodically search the enemy troops lying face down in the grass before ordering the operator of the APC to get out.
The third Russian emerges from a hatch in the front part of the vehicle with his hands up and is quickly detained.
After all three men are petted down and restrained, one of the Ukrainians is ordered by his commander to inspect the Russian vehicle marked with the letter “Z,” which has become the symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Post could not independently verify the authenticity of the video depicting the Russians’ apparent surrender.
Kim, the Ukrainian official, shared additional details about the encounter on his personal Telegram page, writing: “Occupiers have begun to surrender with their equipment in the Kherson area. Russian servicemen, follow their example. How to correctly surrender to the Ukrainian Armed Forces — watch here.”
It comes after Ukraine’s parliament passed a law in April offering Russian troops monetary compensation if they willingly surrender military equipment to Kyiv’s forces.
Those who turn in a plane should expect be paid $1 million, while surrendering a tank would be rewarded with $100,000. An APC like the one seen in the video would make its occupants $50,000 richer.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has recently launched a program called “I Want to Live,” which encourages Russian soldiers and those facing mobilization to call a hotline and surrender.
The hotline has reportedly received more than 2,000 calls so far from Russians interested in becoming willing prisoners of war.
