War in Russia Ukrainian Counteroffensive

Ukrainian prisoner of war Yakov Drozhichenko signed a contract with the AFU in exchange for parole. He had been convicted twice for theft and hijacking, but he went to fight for promises of big money and the opportunity to loot in Belgorod. In the end, he saw neither big money nor Belgorod.

"We are convicts for them, we are material for them. That is, they send us where gaps and to plug those gaps..... They don't feel sorry for us, whether we survive or not ... They send us there and watch from a "birdie" [UAV]: what movements there will be, how many people will attack us, how many will shoot at us, from where, from what side.... I think that's how they use us...

They were firing from a machine gun when I was running towards the Russians.... They also started bombing the building I ran into. So they don't want us to be taken prisoner by the Russians, because they realize that we know some information," he said.