Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova said Thursday that a platoon of Russian soldiers surrendered to the Ukrainian military, saying they “didn’t know that they were brought to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians,” The Hill reports.
At a press briefing, Markarova said, “Just before I came here, we got information from our chief commander that one of the platoons of the 74th motorized brigade from Kemerovo Oblast surrendered.”
“They didn’t know that they were brought to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians. They thought they were doing something else there,” she added.
Markarova was unable to say how many troops were in the platoon and did not say whether they were being detained by Ukraine.
Markarova said that the “combat spirit” of the Ukrainian military is “high.”
The ambassador called on leaders of the free world to form an “anti-Putin coalition” to stop Russia’s attack against Ukraine.
“Ukraine is defending our home. We will defend our home and it’s time for all free and democratic nations who value the principles and the territorial integrity and the right of any country for peace to stand together with us, but not only stand together with us, act together with us to stop the war in Europe,” said Markarova.
When asked if she expected U.S. troops to be sent into Ukraine, Markarova noted that her country is not a part of European or Atlantic security alliances such as NATO and said Ukraine does not expect any countries to fight on its behalf, though she said any help and peacekeeping operations would be welcome.