The Daily Populous Friday August 16th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by kyivindependent.com and submitted by Apprehensive_Sleep_4

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The Freedom of Russia Legion on Aug. 16 appealed to Russian troops to surrender or switch sides and join the fight "for the normal future of Russia."

The statement came amid an ongoing Ukrainian incursion in Russia's Kursk Oblast, with the estimates of Russian captives ranging from several hundred to 2,000.

There is no indication that the legion, a unit of Russians fighting on Kyiv's side, was involved in the operation despite carrying out limited cross-border raids earlier this year and in 2023. The unit's statement did not directly mention the Kursk incursion.

"Your political officers, sitting in the warm rear, tell you not to surrender but to blow yourself up with your own grenade," the legion's statement on Telegram read.

"But hundreds of Russian soldiers ignore this criminal order, choosing to live rather than to die for a medal for some colonel or a new mansion for (Chief of Staff Valery) Gerasimov."

The legion called upon Russian soldiers to "surrender to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as (their) comrades did." Those who "want to continue fighting for the normal future of Russia" were invited to join the unit.

A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent that Ukrainian forces captured over 100 Russian and Chechen troops in Kursk Oblast in a single day on Aug. 14, adding it was the single largest number of enemy soldiers captured at once.

Ukraine declined to provide a full number of Russian captives taken during the Kursk incursion following the Kyiv Independent's request.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "hundreds" of Russian soldiers had been captured as of Aug. 13, while an undisclosed Ukrainian colonel told The Independent news outlet that the number may be as high as 2,000.

KeyWill7437 on August 16th, 2024 at 13:02 UTC »

Are there actually an cases of soldiers switching sides in this regards? I remember in the beginning if the war some wagnerite captives surrendering and offering on interview to join the side of ukraine and being sent back to russia via prisoner swap. I feel like there was some wagnerite recruited out of prison who did just this and then wagner published a video of them smashing his brains in with a sledgehammer once he was sent back to russia by prisoner exchange. Any other references to this actually happening, or am I totally off base here?

SeaAcanthisitta6262 on August 16th, 2024 at 10:21 UTC »

Is this a possible realistic outcome that could gain enough momentum I wonder..

Ok-Rutabaga-7862 on August 16th, 2024 at 09:45 UTC »

Russian law says that the normal conscription class - the one done twice a year and mostly teenagers - cannot serve outside Russia’s border. Putin caught a lot of flack about it when a bunch got killed inside Ukraine during the start of the war. It’s been known for awhile that the Russians have been using the conscripts for basic guard duty and logistics labor along the border. So these are likely barely trained kids doing their mandatory year of service. The fact that Ukraine has captured a bunch - and likely killed more than a few as well - could turn into a pretty big problem for Putin.