More than 4,300 Russian troops are ready to voluntarily surrender to Ukrainian forces, a spokesperson has claimed. Vitaliy Matvienko, who heads up a project which provides information on how Russian troops can surrender, told the Ukrainian network FREEDOM TV that many have also submitted relevant appeals within the so-called ‘I want to live’ framework.
He said: “There are more than 4,300 requests since the start of the project ‘I want to live’ and at the moment.
“Basically, these are Russian servicemen or mobilised, who are interested in how to surrender.
“Or they are those who have already decided to surrender, and we communicate with them, carry out all the necessary work.”
Matvienko also stressed that Kyiv guarantees full security of all conversations and correspondence with Russian prisoners of war.
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He added: “In order to protect them in the future after they can be exchanged for Ukrainian servicemen, we register them as those who were captured during the battle.
“Thus, it guarantees them all social benefits.”
The ‘I want to live’ project was launched in September in a bid to help Kremlin-supported servicemen surrender during Moscow’s invasion.
The number of Russian soldiers searching ‘how to surrender’ on the internet has also doubled in the last month.
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“In addition, Russia has recently deployed extra units of mobilised reservists to Belarus.
“Belarus played a key enabling role in Russia’s assault towards Kyiv from February 24, 2022.
“However, the exercising Belarusian troops and Russian units are currently unlikely to constitute a force capable of conducting a successful new assault into northern Ukraine.”