"Many" Russian soldiers were captured in Russia's Kursk Oblast after the incursion of Ukrainian forces, Ukraine's state project "Khochu nayti" ("I want to find") said on Aug. 7.
Among the captives are both conscripts and contract soldiers, according to "Khochu nayti," the project launched in January 2024 by Ukraine's military intelligence for relatives of the Russian military captured in Ukraine.
"There is also information about the dead whose bodies were not taken away by their comrades-in-arms during the retreat," the statement read.
The project published drone footage of what it presented as 32 captured Russian soldiers, adding that eight more did not fit into the frame. The Telegram post did not specify whether this was the overall number of Russian troops captured so far.
The Kyiv Independent cannot independently verify the claims.
Ukrainian forces crossed the border into Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, resulting in clashes on Russian soil that were described by Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a large-scale provocation."
Kyiv has largely refused to comment on the operation in Kursk Oblast, which takes place just as Russia is ramping up attacks in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast.
On Aug. 7, an emergency state was declared in Kursk Oblast, according to the acting governor of the region, Alexei Smirnov.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, reported to Putin that the Ukrainian military's advance deep into Kursk Oblast had been stopped.
In turn, Russian Telegram channels claimed that fighting had already begun in Sudzha, a town of around 5,000 people located less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
Kursk Oblast lies on the border with Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, which has been experiencing daily attacks since Russian troops were pushed out of the oblast and back across the border in April 2022.
The Russian region has a population of around 1 million people, 440,000 of whom live in the city of Kursk, the region's administrative center.
Francis Farrell
(Updated: )
