Ukrainian forces claim to have captured a large number of Russian soldiers in the Kursk region.
At the entrance to Soumy, a Ukrainian town close to the Russian border, life seems to be taking its normal course. Civilians and soldiers fill up at a gas station, while others relax with drinks. Eleven days into the offensive, Ukrainian forces claim to control 1,150 square kilometers of territory. According to the army’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrsky, troops continue to advance, with gains of 1 to 3 kilometers in some areas. Rumors about the high number of captured Russian prisoners quickly circulated on social networks.
Although both sides remain silent on exact figures, Ukrainian testimonies and images suggest that Kiev has captured a significant number of Russian soldiers. Kiev sees these captures as leverage for future negotiations with Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stressed the importance of these prisoners, whom he describes as “exchange funds”. This strategy could potentially facilitate the return of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians held in Russia, including fighters captured during the defense of Azovstal in Mariupol.
The scale of the captures also seems to be unsettling Moscow. On August 14, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, revealed that his Russian counterpart had made contact to discuss a possible prisoner exchange, reflecting the growing pressure on the Kremlin. Videos of arrests of Russian soldiers began flooding social networks shortly after the offensive began. The 80th Air Assault Brigade even published a video showing Russian soldiers surrendering after an attack on a border post. According to this brigade, more than fifty Russian soldiers were captured in the first hours of the assault. The previous day, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) had announced the capture of 102 Russian soldiers belonging to the 488th motorized rifle regiment and a Chechen unit. This operation is billed as the biggest capture of Russian soldiers since the start of the invasion in February 2022.
The Russian authorities, for their part, remain discreet about these losses. However, videos of captured Ukrainian soldiers are also circulating, albeit in smaller numbers. Victoria Solodukhina, from the Ukrainian organization Nadiya, estimates that up to 150 Ukrainian servicemen may have been captured, mainly during reconnaissance missions on Russian territory. The situation remains tense, and while a large-scale prisoner exchange seems unlikely for the time being, ongoing discussions testify to the complexity of the ongoing war.
