THIS is the moment more than 100 trembling Vlad troops surrender to Ukraine on their own turf amid claims their commanders abandoned them.
An entire Russian military unit gave up the fight and were taken prisoners of war within the embattled Kursk region, where Ukraine has advanced 20 miles.
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According to former Ukrainian adviser Anton Gerashchenko, a total of 102 troops waved the white flag – the biggest mass surrender of the war since Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
It’s believed the soldiers opted to save their lives by surrendering after their commanders fled battle.
Pictures showing the capitulation appear an enormous embarrassment for Vlad and Kremlin military chiefs, who are accused of sending untrained young conscripts to their slaughter.
They are also the first Russian leaders to lose territory to a foreign power since the Second World War.
Read more on Russia-Ukraine
Ukrainian outlet Want to Live, which seeks to broker surrenders, said the troops couldn’t be blamed when a lack of Russian leadership left them rudderless.
A statement said: “More than 100 Russians abandoned by their commanders made the right decision and surrendered.
“They can be understood.
“It is hard to conduct military operations when you are commanded by tyrants and embezzlers, and the flanks are ‘covered’ by (Chechen leader Ramzan) Kadyrov’s bandits, who abandon everyone and everything, just so as not to be captured themselves.
“And thanks to (Russian) General (Alexander) Lapin, who is helping us successfully advance in the Kursk region, just as in 2022 in the Kharkiv region, for the defence of which he was responsible.”
Lapin was Putin’s controversial pick as deputy commander of ground forces and head of the Leningrad military district, a figure seen as incompetent by many pro-war hardliners.
This problem was forecast by former Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin before he was allegedly assassinated on Vlad’s commands last year.
In video from more than a year ago that has resurfaced on social media this week, the warlord raged that Russia’s suck-up leaders bootlick their way to the top.
Prigozhin slammed military chiefs for kicking their feet up far away from the frontlines while they sent unqualified young men to heat of battle.
He even predicted that as a consequence, a Ukrainian invasion of Russia was imminent.
The 102 new captives are set to help Ukraine trade for their own POWs held by Russia.
Yan Matveyev, a Russian military analyst, said the losses were serious for Moscow.
He said: “Just imagine, in the video a quarter of an entire motorised rifle battalion is captured.
“A very serious blow to combat readiness.”
It’s another blow to the Kremlin, already reeling from Ukraine’s shock cross-border blitz.
Kyiv’s troops stormed into the Kursk region and quickly snapped up a claimed 400 square miles of Russian soil after launching the invasion last Tuesday.
Thousands of citizens rushed from their homes, before mass evacuation soon also occurred in the neighbouring Belgorod region as Ukraine marched on.
Now British tanks have rumbled into Russia with the offensive continuing.
Challenger 2 tanks are said to have rolled over the country’s northeastern border taking the fight to Putin.
Ukraine seizes as much land in Russia in 8 DAYS as Putin has in 8 MONTHS
By Georgie English
UKRAINE has managed to seize as much Russian land in just eight days of their mini invasion as Putin’s forces achieved in the last eight months.
A trembling Vlad has been left fuming over the continued incursion as he has called on the Kremlin to deploy more troops into Kursk to “kick the enemy out”.
Ukraine’s armed forces have stormed across the border in beefed up convoys including tanks and aircraft since starting to attack on August 6.
Kyiv now claims to control 74 settlements in Kusrk and a formidable 1,000 square kilometres of enemy soil as of Tuesday evening.
That figure is expected to continue to increase as they push on with their fiery war plans, says general Oleksander Syrsky.
Since the start of 2024, Russia has only managed to steal 994 square kilometres of land inside Ukraine, claims Telegraph analysis.
Crack troops from Ukraine’s 82nd Air Assault Brigade charged into Kursk with the 70ton beasts which have been hailed as armoured snipers.
Britain donated 14 tanks last year and one was destroyed in battle during the previous summer counter-offensive.
Meanwhile, dramatic video showed the moment a panicking Russian helicopter gunship crew blew up their own convoy.
New black and white footage released shows a Russian Ka-52M helicopter line up the two transport vehicles in its sights and fire missiles at them.
One after the other they explode in a flash of white flame and black smoke.
While the pilots would have celebrated the direct hits, their comrades in the convoy would have faced serious injury.
Ukrainian troops later came across the damaged trucks as they advanced forward and dropped bombs from drones to finish them off.
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