The same soldiers who raised a Ukrainian flag in Kostiantynivka, where fierce battles between Ukrainian and Russian soldiers are taking place, were likely captured there. Ukraine's 425th "Skala" (Rock) Separate Assault Regiment has acknowledged it is aware of information spread by Russian resources about the capture of its soldiers in the Donetsk Oblast city, and said it is working to establish all the circumstances.
Days ago, the 425th Regiment posted footage of its soldiers raising a flag in Kostiantynivka and told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the city was "again under the blue-and-yellow flag."
Russian media then reported that Ukrainian troops had been captured during the fighting for the city, and the Regiment has now confirmed that it knows about it.
Just one episode
The Regiment frames the capture as one episode in an ongoing battle, not the collapse of its operation.
"Combat for the city continues, and individual successes or losses by the sides do not change the overall picture of the battle," it said.
The two claims can both be true. A unit can clear a sector, raise a flag, and lose soldiers to a counterattack in the same contested city.
Regiment says Russia is weaponizing prisoners
The 425th's statement is largely about information warfare. It argues that Russia is using the captured soldiers to misrepresent the state of the battle.
"We cannot disclose the details of the operation in the city. Russian propaganda is trying to present a single episode of the battle as a refutation of the results of the entire operation in Kostiantynivka. This is manipulation," the Regiment said.
It added that the display of Ukrainian prisoners proves neither the capture of Kostiantynivka nor the defeat of the Regiment, and that Russia traditionally uses POWs as a tool of information war to demoralize Ukrainian society and discredit the military command.
The Regiment also said its soldiers captured two Russian occupiers during the same fighting.
Euromaidan Press cannot independently verify the number of captured soldiers or the circumstances of their capture.
