Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday that it captured a Ukrainian soldier who claimed his commanders had issued shoot-to-kill orders during the assault on Russia’s Kursk region.
According to the FSB, the captured soldier, identified as a member of Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade, said during an interrogation that Ukrainian soldiers were instructed to “shoot everyone on the spot” if met with resistance from local residents.
The Russian law enforcement body said its border troops, assisted by locals, apprehended the soldier as he tried to flee back to Ukraine after being “abandoned” by his fellow servicemen.
A Kursk-based Telegram channel initially published, then deleted, a video showing what it described as local volunteers interrogating the captured Ukrainian soldier, who was seen standing in his underwear in a wooded area with his hands tied behind his back. The soldier identified himself as Ruslan Poltoratsky.
An FSB video later released by the Russian defense ministry-affiliated broadcaster Zvezda also showed the soldier identifying himself as Ruslan Poltoratsky. It was not immediately clear whether Poltoratsky was speaking under duress in either of the videos.
In an edited segment of the FSB’s interrogation, Poltoratsky is heard recounting his commander’s orders to “shoot men in the foot and throw them in a field or a basement,” and to “shoot them” if they were armed.
The FSB did not specify whether charges would be filed against him.
Poltoratsky claimed that Ukrainian forces had been preparing to storm into the Kursk region and advance toward the neighboring Belgorod region since July 28, with the goal of capturing as much territory as possible for potential leverage in peace negotiations.
He described the operation as “Ukraine’s last chance,” citing remarks from one of his commanders.
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