‘Putin is a liar’: Baby-faced Russian soldiers sob after capture

Captured Russian troops have sobbed as they apologised for killing Ukrainian civilians, calling their invasion a “terrible mistake”.

Captured Russian troops have been shown on video sobbing as they apologised for killing Ukrainian civilians, including children — and admitted that the invasion ordered by President Vladimir Putin was a “terrible mistake”.

“I apologise for myself, for my squad to every home, to every street, to every citizen of Ukraine, to the elderly, to women, to children for our invasion of these lands,” one of the soldiers, Galkin Sergey Alekseevich, 34, said during an emotional press conference, as reported by the New York Post.

“I gravely apologise for our treacherous invasion. To the generalship of our military units, I would like to say one thing — that they’ve acted cowardly, that they acted traitorously to us.

“I would like to say to all regiments of the Russian army: Lay down your arms.

“And Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, stop further combat actions. Stop bombings, stop sending soldiers here to kill civilians, to perform air strikes.”

Two Russian soldiers broke down crying during an interview on March 15, 2022, saying they were sorry for killing Ukrainians and that Vladimir Putin made a “terrible mistake.” Picture: UKrinformTV

One of the captured Russian soldiers broke down crying. Picture: UKrinformTV

It is believed that Alekseevich was one of seven reconnaissance officers captured last week, according to The Sun.

Another soldier, Maksim Chernik of the Russian 16th Motorised Rifle Brigade, said “it was a terrible feeling to realise what a mistake we had made”, the Daily Mail reported.

“Simply understanding that all this has to be fixed, the relations have to be improved somehow,” he said.

“This will take more than one year. It will take decades, maybe centuries. I simply don’t want to exist after all of this after what’s going on here.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a “terrible mistake”, one of the soldiers said. Picture: Mikhail Klimentyev/SPUTNIK/AFP

Footage of the captured servicemen emerged as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Russian troops to surrender, saying in his nightly TV address that they have suffered worse losses during their invasion of his country than during the Chechnya conflict.

“I know that you want to survive,” he said, according to the BBC, adding that those who surrendered would be treated “as people — decently.”

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine were expected to continue Tuesday, with Zelensky saying that “pretty good” progress had been made so far.

Picture: UKrinformTV

Footage of captured Russian soldiers has raised questions about whether Ukraine is violating the Geneva Conventions, which provide prisoners of war (POW) with protections.

According to Article 13: “Prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity. Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.”

Andrew Stroehlein, a human-rights activist who serves as European media director of Human Rights Watch, said in a recent tweet that “humiliating or making POWs a subject of public curiosity or ridicule is strictly prohibited by the laws of war”.

“Although it may seem in some videos that POWs are free to speak as they wish, they are held captive by another military force, and it’s almost impossible to judge from one video the conditions they face,” he wrote.

Stroehlein said “this prohibition protects families of soldiers back in their home country who may face retaliation if it is known that their family members have been captured,” he continued.

“These rules apply equally to #Ukrainian forces that capture Russian soldiers, and #Russian forces that capture Ukrainian soldiers.”

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission