Russia accidentally kills its own soldiers while violating Easter truce, Ukrainian military claims
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Russian forces accidentally killed three of their own personnel while targeting an evacuation of wounded soldiers during what was supposed to be an Easter ceasefire on April 12, Ukraine's 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade reported.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 9 announced a 32-hour Orthodox Easter ceasefire set to run from 4 p.m. on April 11 through the end of April 12. Ukraine had previously called for a similar truce.
Russian forces attacked unarmed soldiers with first-person-view (FPV) drones as they were being withdrawn from the front lines near Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast, the 24th brigade, named for King Danylo, claimed in a Facebook post on April 12.
The attack killed three soldiers, who were being evacuated from front-line positions due to injuries.
"They were moving from the line of contact to the rear, unarmed, with signs of receiving medical care, and using crutches — in accordance with conventions and ceasefire conditions," the brigade said.
What attackers did not realize was that the wounded soldiers were captured Russian personnel who had been taken prisoner a day earlier. They were evacuated first in order to test Russia's willingness to observe the declared ceasefire.
"To ensure the safe medical evacuation of its own personnel, the brigade command decided to dress the captured personnel ... into neutral uniforms and conduct a test evacuation to verify the enemy's compliance with its own promises," the brigade reported.
The brigade published video footage of the incident.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the 24th Brigade's claims at the time of publication.
Ukraine's General Staff has accused Russia of violating the Easter ceasefire over 2,000 times.
Over a period of 15 hours from 4 p.m. local time April 11 to 7 a.m. April 12, Russia committed 2,299 violations of the declared truce, the General Staff said. The violations included included 28 assault operations, 479 shelling incidents, 747 kamikaze drone attacks, and 1,045 FPV drone strikes.
