On August 24, the 425th Assault Battalion Skala, part of the Operational Command East in the Ukrainian army, reported capturing 16 Russian soldiers. The capture took place during a battle in the town of New York, located in the Donetsk region.
This event was reported by journalist Yuriy Butusov on his YouTube channel.
According to the report, a small team of eight Ukrainian stormtroopers captured 16 Russian servicemen from the 9th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade. This unit had previously been the 9th Separate Marine Regiment of the so-called “People’s Militia” of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic.”
The captured Russian lieutenant, Vladislav Akimov, revealed that their mission had been to cross an intersection in the city, which was heavily defended by a Ukrainian machine gun.
Photo: Butusov Plus on YouTube
The first group attempting the crossing met with disaster under heavy fire, while the second group also came under fire but managed to take cover in a 16-story grain elevator.
Despite promises of reinforcements from their command, the Russian soldiers were left stranded for over a day and a half. During this time, they faced constant attacks from Ukrainian forces, including heavy-lift drones.
The wounded commander of the Russian assault group, Vladimir Grybov, who lost his leg in the battle, recounted how the Ukrainian soldiers eventually saved his life, even as their own command had abandoned them.
The climax of the battle came when Ukrainian forces, supported by a tank and an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, stormed the grain elevator. After a brief but intense firefight, one Ukrainian soldier, codenamed “Black,” managed to convince a Russian soldier to surrender and persuade his comrades to do the same.
Despite this, three Russian soldiers were unable to surrender; two were killed by tank fire, and another was shot at the entrance to the elevator.
