Ukrainian artillerymen from the 28th Mechanised Brigade have captured their first prisoner: a man who was supposed to lead Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups into the city of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast.

Source : 28th Mechanised Brigade; the brigade in a video on YouTube

Quote : "Our artillerymen have done something you would never expect from their work – taken a prisoner. For the first time. We can't say for sure, but this may be the first such case you've seen in this war.

The prisoner is no ordinary conscript. This is Oleg, an enemy saboteur who was supposed to lead Russian groups into the city itself. He was supposed to prepare the ground for an invasion from within. It didn't work out.

He was captured – and with that, the occupiers' plans to build up their forces in Kostiantynivka were thwarted. In an irony of fate, the artillery, which usually strikes from a distance, worked from close range this time."

Details : In the footage, Ukrainian soldiers recount how they went to retrieve a drone and spotted a man in a Russian uniform about a kilometre away. He didn't see them at first.

The Russian pretended to be an Azov fighter, but when told to say "Palianytsia", he revealed his Russian accent. ["Palianytsia", a type of bread, is a Ukrainian word that Russians find difficult to pronounce properly. Since the full-scale Russian invasion started, Ukrainians have used the word as a means to identify Russian military or saboteurs – ed.] After he pointed his rifle at a Ukrainian soldier, another Ukrainian shot him in the leg and captured him.

Later he was given food and medical assistance and told that he would be swapped.

The fighters said that the Russian's name was Oleg, he came from the Russian city of Penza, and he had been fighting for over three years.

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