Russia Sent Soldiers to Film Druzhkivka “Capture"—Ukrainian Marines Captured Them Instead

Ukrainian marines captured two Russian soldiers near Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region who had allegedly been ordered to film a staged video waving a Russian flag to claim control of the settlement, according to Ukraine's 36th Separate Marine Brigade on August 5.

The brigade announced the capture on its official Facebook page, framing the episode as the dismantling of another enemy information-psychological operation.

"Ukrainian land is no place for Russian fairy tales! We are destroying yet another enemy information-psychological operation," the brigade wrote.

As the marines described it, Russian commanders sent the two soldiers to infiltrate Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka along the Kostiantynivka direction. The goal followed a familiar script: wave a hand beside the settlement's stele to announce a fresh "capture" of the locality.

Within hours, scouts from the brigade took the pair prisoner, the unit reported. The Marines added that they would keep holding their defensive lines and ruining what they called Russia's victorious film scenarios.

Staged flag videos have become a recurring feature of Russia's battlefield messaging, and they often unravel soon after they surface.

In late June, a Russian assault group that filmed itself raising a flag in Novoselivka, in the Zaporizhzhia region, was struck by Ukrainian forces shortly afterward, leaving several soldiers dead and one taken prisoner.

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