Ukraine's Azov brigade captures a large number of Russian soldiers in Donetsk - Combat operation

Ukrainian forces have captured 18 Russian soldiers during the clearing of the village of Zolotii Kolodias in the Dobropillia direction near Pokrovsk in eastern Donetsk region. The operation to capture Russian servicemen was carried out by the International Battalion of the 12th Azov Brigade. Video footage shared in social media shows the operation to capture Russians as well as their interrogation. Speaking to the video, several Russian soldiers said they were treated well in captivity, with one soldier even saying that he was, shocked, by such behavior of Ukrainian fighters. The soldier explained that had he known he would not have been killed, he would have surrendered long ago. They treated us well, peacefully, they fed us and gave us anything to drink. They gave us blankets to cover ourselves, coffee to drink. Our guys were shocked by this," said another soldier. The Russians also commended the discipline and the superior conditions within the Ukrainian army, drawing a parallel between the conditions of the two countries' armies. Their uniforms are different. They have emblems. They have weapons and body armor. They were dressed in a way that I had never seen before," a Russian soldier said, not being able to contain his surprise. Furthermore, the hostages complained about the dire situation and arbitrariness in the Russian army. One soldier said they are mistreated and abandoned by their commanders. I have a gunfire wound. I needed medicine and unfortunately, they didn't send medicine for me," one of the soldiers explained. Another soldier said he had been stuck in the military position for the fourth months now, without communication, food. The soldiers also described their capture. One of the soldiers said they were attacked by four Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and a heavy bomber drone. Baba Yaga flew overnight, destroyed everything and we fled to another basement. There was nobody there. We stepped on a landmine and we were intercepted. Then another Baba Yaga flew and fired at us," one soldier explained. Another soldier admitted that he wanted to commit suicide to avoid captivity but couldn't do it as he had no bullets left in his weapon. Furthermore, the video features the operation to capture Russian soldiers. After being captured, the soldiers are laid down on the ground with their hands tied. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the size of Crimean cemeteries has increased, and Russian authorities in annexed Crimea are actively raising the issue of expanding their area in some of them. A severe shortage of new burial space is also felt in Sevastopol. Meanwhile, Crimstat, the Kremlin-controlled statistics agency in Crimea, reports a decline in mortality on the Crimean peninsula. Crim.reli investigated what is happening in this sensitive area, the true extent of Crimean cemeteries, and what local Russian authorities prefer to keep quiet about. Sevastopol's largest cemetery is located at the 5th kilometer of the Balaklava Highway, also known as Kalfa. In October 2025, a decision was made to expand this cemetery. We are expanding the cemetery area at the 5th kilometer of the Balaklava Highway, the second stage, and we are raising the issue of a new cemetery, this is the third stage, on the Mekhensivy Hills, due to the acute shortage of burial sites and burials in Sevastopol, stated Natalia Guleva, acting director of the Department of Urban Economy of the Russian-controlled Sevastopol Administration. According to Russian documents, the Kalfa cemetery covers 63 hectares. As of 2021, satellite images show that the main section was fully occupied and the additional section was half full. In October 2025, a decision was made to expand the cemetery by another six hectares. We need to use maps because we can't go there. Many journalists can't get there right now to cover this the way we'd like. Secondly, cemeteries, especially new ones, aren't marked with names on satellite maps, so we need to know their locations and coordinates in advance. Some local knowledge, as well as the reporters' expertise, is also necessary. Here's what we did. Our reporters collected data on 13 cemeteries, and then we began to investigate whether cemeteries actually existed there, whether they were expanding, and whether there had been any changes. That's exactly what we did, said RFE Investigative Projects and OSINT producer Reen Alyas. The number of images we used really depended on the cemetery. We were lucky because, again, it's due to the way satellites work. They don't get the same image every day. For example, one day there might be an image from one cemetery, and then the next day there might not be a good image from that same cemetery for, say, two months. Another cemetery might have a good image, and by good I mean clear, cloud-free, clearly visible. You might get one per month, so we typically have at least one image of a cemetery every two to three months. So, for each cemetery we surveyed, by my calculations, we got about 30 images. It mostly depended on what was available because we can't take the images ourselves. The satellites take them, says Reen Alyas. According to documents, the Sevastopol-Kalfer cemetery covered 63 hectares. The video below shows the cemetery's filling dynamic. The colored section of the satellite images show that they were filled with graves from 2021 to the end of 2025. The section on the bottom left is five hectares, the top right is one hectare. Rostat reports a decrease in mortality, but Crimea's cemeteries have expanded significantly, notes Ukrainian scientist Sergei Gapon, head of the Geoinformation Systems Laboratory at the World Data Center for Geoinformatics and Sustainable Development. Yalta's main cemetery is the so-called Upper Cemetery or Mountain Cemetery. It contains many graves of fallen Russian soldiers, but it's difficult to accurately count them as among their graves are also those of local civilians. Crimean Alexei Mandraiko lived in Yalta for many years and tells us about this cemetery. The situation on the southern coast of Crimea is unique. The mountainous terrain does not provide much space for burials. Kursk ranks second on the Crimean peninsula for the number of obituaries for Russian military personnel. However, they never filmed funerals there. It was not possible to analyze the condition of the Kursk Central Cemetery. Its view is blocked by trees. However, it is known that the cemetery has long been running out of space. A new cemetery opened near the village of Opasnoe back in 2012, but the city of Kursk only accepted it as its legal entity in 2024.