Moment cornered Russian soldiers wave white flag in surrender amid rapid Ukraine counteroffensive

6 October 2022, 12:16

Russian troops have been filmed waving a white flag as they surrendered to Ukraine from their tank.

A video captured in Kherson, southern Ukraine, shows soldiers on a BMP-2 driving out from behind a set of trees on a hill.

Ukrainian troops can be seen in defence positions on the ground as Russians move closer.

After driving in front of soldiers the BMP-2, which carries a white flag, stops.

Crew members then leave the tank with raised hands and Ukrainian soldiers move in, stripping Russians of their weapons and taking them as prisoner of wars.

The clip, shared on social media, appears to be a pre-arranged operation, but there has been no confirmation from officials yet.

The footage emerged after Ukraine claimed that more than 2,000 Russian troops called a hotline set up for them to surrender to avoid being killed during the war.

Vitaliy Matviyenko, spokesman for the I want to Live hotline, said: "We have already received more than 2,000 applications.

"Both servicemen of the Russian army and their relatives who want their sons and husbands to stay alive are calling.

"Among other things, we are talking about three meals a day, medical care, and the opportunity to contact relatives. The only chance to avoid death in Ukraine is to surrender."

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Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, said that the hotline had also received calls from Russian citizens who have not yet been conscripted.

He said: "The hotline has received a lot of calls from Russians who were called up recently, and even from some who have not even been called up yet.

"They're calling and asking 'What should I do if I get called up? What do I have to do, what’s the right way to surrender?'"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country's forces have retaken more settlements in Kherson.

The region is among the partially Russian-occupied southern areas of the country that Moscow claims to have annexed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Wednesday claiming that four regions of Ukraine were now part of Russia, but Kyiv and the West said the referendums carried out by Russia were rigged votes held at gunpoint.

As Russian forces retreat from frontlines in the south and east, Zelensky said that Novovoskresenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka to the northeast of Kherson city had been "liberated".

It comes after a Russian rocket strike destroyed a five-storey apartment block in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one woman and leaving other residents trapped under rubble.

Firefighters rushed through the streets to tackle the blazes after the overnight attack, the regional governor said.

More explosions were heard on Thursday morning in what local officials said was a renewed Russian strike.

"Another enemy missile attack. Stay in shelters!" Oleksandr Starukh, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, told residents on the Telegram messaging app.

He later told Ukrainian television that one woman was killed in the overnight shelling, but said another woman who was earlier reported dead had survived.