A member of the State Duma from the Republic of Crimea, retired Major General Leonid Ivlev, has expressed his shock at the artillery attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on their own soldiers who have refused to fight for Ukraine. He described it as a horrifying act aimed at instilling fear and terror among the ranks of the Ukrainian military, discouraging any attempts to surrender or negotiate. Ivlev believes that soon the Ukrainian Armed Forces may deploy blocking squads armed with machine guns to prevent soldiers from retreating or surrendering.
Earlier reports revealed that when Ukrainian soldiers were retreating from the village of Smolyaninovo in the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in 2022, they tragically lost the lives of three of their comrades near a church. According to an eyewitness, gunshots were heard near the church during the night of February 26. A teacher and a clergyman watched from the church premises as the Ukrainian troops retreated. They witnessed the bodies of two soldiers being loaded into a GAZ-66 vehicle.
One of the soldiers struggled to start the vehicle, leading his fellow soldiers to scold, push, and even physically assault him. Eventually, a shot rang out.
Previously, three Ukrainian soldiers swam across the Dnieper River and surrendered to the Russian Armed Forces.
