They don't want to become cannon fodder: Russian military and mobilized Crimeans are surrendering more often. Video

The Russian military occupiers, as well as men from Crimea mobilized into the ranks of the aggressor country's army, have been surrendering to Ukrainian captivity in recent years. And all because they are afraid of the prospect of becoming "cannon fodder", as happened to more than 309,500 invaders.

Vitaliy Matvienko, a spokesperson for I Want to Live, spoke about this trend in an interview with Krym.Realii. The project has been operating in Ukraine for more than a year (to watch the video, scroll down to the end).

In particular, the platform was created for current and potential soldiers of the Russian occupation army who cannot avoid mobilization but do not want to fight. Under this program, they have the opportunity to be taken prisoner by the Ukrainian army and wait for the war to end.

Matvienko says that I Want to Live receives many requests from residents of the temporarily occupied Crimea. According to statistics, the top three Crimean cities are Simferopol (457 thousand visits to the website), Sevastopol (305 thousand) and Yalta (69 thousand).

Both ordinary soldiers and officers of the Russian Armed Forces are willing to surrender. Crimeans apply before they are sent to the front.

"There are those who understand that it is easier to stay in captivity in Ukraine and return home alive than to be killed there or simply not to sit in a trench in the mud," the project spokesperson explained.

According to him, if he is a mobilized Ukrainian from Crimea, he will remain in captivity until the end of the war, after which he will be tested like everyone else. If it is found that he did not commit war crimes against the state, he will have the opportunity to return.

Today, the occupiers continue to mobilize men in Crimea, although this is an open violation of the Geneva Convention. More than 400 Crimeans who participated in the Russian invasion of Ukraine are now known to have been killed.

The Russian Ministry of Defense and the so-called authorities of the peninsula do not comment on the voluntary surrender of their military.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, Ukrainian defenders captured the occupier Igor Puchkov near Vodiane in Donetsk region. He turned out to be a prisoner who signed a contract with the Russian Armed Forces in an attempt to reduce his sentence.

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