Photo: Stringer / RFoto: Stringer / Reuters

The Ukrainian army reported that it had captured 27 Russian soldiers during fighting in Russia’s border region of Kursk. This comes amid the ongoing conflict with Russia and the expansion of Ukraine’s territorial gains in the region.

According to the press service of the Ukrainian forces, the captured soldiers are officers, sergeants and privates from various Russian military units, including soldiers from annexed Crimea. All of them voluntarily surrendered their weapons during a difficult combat situation, which allowed them to save their lives. All the wounded were immediately taken to medical units for first aid.

According to the Ukrainian army, the detained Russian soldiers appeared in a video where they identified themselves in Russian. The video was posted on the Internet and shows part of the operation.

This new achievement comes amid the expansion of Ukraine’s presence in the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces have partially controlled since August last year. This is the first time in history that foreign troops have occupied part of Russian territory since World War II.

Since the end of 2024, Russia has reportedly deployed several thousand North Korean soldiers to Kursk to support its efforts at the front. The Ukrainian side also recently reported the capture of several North Korean soldiers who were wounded during the fighting and offered to exchange them for Ukrainian prisoners.

Ukrainian forces continue active combat operations in the region, without disclosing the details of their strategic goals. Moscow, in turn, claims to be preparing a new Ukrainian offensive in this strategically important region, where Ukraine has already seized the initiative in August 2024.

This success of the Ukrainian army is an important part of the overall struggle, which has been going on for almost three years now, against Russian aggression, which continues to increase tensions in the region.