Ololade Adeyanju/
Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said Russian mothers could could come to Kyiv and collect their sons who had been taken prisoner, MailOnline reports.
In a verified post on social media, officials claimed mothers could travel to the Ukrainian capital from Russia if they had found that their child was in captivity.
“It was decided to give the captured Russian soldiers to their mothers if they come to Ukraine, to Kyiv for them,” it read.
The ministry provide an email address and phone numbers that could be used to find out if a soldier was “in captivity or had died”.
An official wrote, “We Ukrainians, unlike Putin’s fascists, do not fight mothers and their captive children. We are waiting for you in Kyiv!”
Reports suggest that many tired and demoralised Russian forces are either fleeing battle or surrendering to Ukraine.
It is believed Putin’s forces are starting to run out of food and fuel, with some resorting to looting, while others are even reportedly sabotaging their own military equipment in a bid to get out of the war.
Intercepted radio messages indicate troops are disobeying orders from Moscow to shell Ukrainian towns, and complaining about running out of food and fuel.
Last night the Russian ministry of defence put the death toll of its troops at 498, with 1,597 injured.
It was a significant admission because it had been claiming there were no deaths. Ukraine says it has killed 7,000 enemy personnel.
It also claims to have taken hundreds of prisoners, including senior officers.
Meanwhile, a footage has emerged showing the moment a Russian soldier broke down in tears as he spoke to his mother on the phone after surrendering to Ukrainians.
Footage shows a young fighter being comforted by a group of women after throwing down his weapon.
He is then seen drinking tea and eating a pasty as another woman offers him a phone.
The young prisoner of war then blows kisses as his mother answers and bursts into tears.
A male voice off camera is heard saying in Ukrainian, “These young men, it’s not their fault. They don’t know why they are here. They are using old maps, they are lost.”
The emotional clip shared on Twitter shows local Ukrainians welcoming the soldier with food after his reported surrender.
It was captioned, “Russian soldiers, surrender, Ukrainian people will feed you, just surrender.”
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