They also call on Russian mothers and everyone in Russia to take to the streets and oppose the Russian authorities.

Captured invaders gave a press conference in Kyiv / video screenshot

Russian prisoners of war called on Russian servicemen to “deploy their weapons in the other direction” and refrain from attacking Ukraine.

According to an UNIAN correspondent, they said this at a press conference in Kiev.

A prisoner of war, Igor Rudenko, said that in 2014 he betrayed Ukraine by going to the service of Russia in Crimea.

According to him, in January 2022, their military unit began to be trained to “wage war and conduct military operations against Ukraine and the people of Ukraine.”

“From January to February 20, the military units of the Crimea … were sent fully equipped to Cape Opuk,” he said and added that they were supposed to have exercises there.READ ALSO:

On February 20, Rudenko said, they received an order to march to the area of ​​the village of Slavnoe. “In Glorious, we were given, as I understand it, an order from President Putin that these were not exercises, this would be an invasion of the territory of Ukraine,” he stressed.

On February 20-23, in Slavny, they were given ammunition and first-aid kits, including Promedol, a drug that does not cause pain.

Rudenko also noted that the servicemen had to buy white paint at their own expense in order to put the letter “Z” on their equipment.

On the night of February 24, they came closer to the administrative border of Crimea and mainland Ukraine. “On the night of the 24th, I saw with my own eyes how the sky blazed red without a declaration of war… We were told that there would be an agreement with the authorities of Ukraine to cross the border as peacekeepers, supposedly to liberate the Ukrainian people from some unknown invaders, Nazis or whatever – some other battalions, formations, which we later did not see on the territory of Ukraine,” Rudenko stressed.

Subsequently, they passed through the administrative border and received an order to take up defense near Novaya Kakhovka, and then move to Kherson, but near Bashtanka their column was completely defeated. The survivors later surrendered to civilians.

For the actions of the Russian servicemen, Rudenko called them fascists who “indiscriminately fired at the civilian population.”

“People are hiding in fear, in the cold, without food in bomb shelters, in basements. Children are dying. This is worse than in 1941. Even Hitler did not allow himself this,” he said.

Addressing the Russian military, Rudenko urged: “Don’t attack the people of Ukraine. Turn your weapons the other way. You can do it. They are simply thrown into mass graves.”

In turn, Russian prisoner of war Alexander Fomenko said that he also served in the Crimea. He appealed to all Russian mothers and to everyone who is now in Russia: “Take to the streets, do not be afraid of our government, do not be afraid of anyone. They will not trample against the crowd. Yes, they will detain 10-20 thousand people, but you are more. You can all come out and just stop this chaos that is happening in Ukraine right now. Civilians are suffering here.”

He also urged Russian mothers to call their military relatives and ask them to return from Ukraine to Russia.

Prisoners of war Aleksey Zheleznyak, Rafik Magomedkirimov, Magsad Mustafayev and Igor Tupilkin also took part in the press conference.

Earlier today it became known that in Ukraine today there are officially 562 Russian prisoners of war .

(C)UNIAN 2022