DONETSK, October 12. /TASS/. Ukrainian servicemen blew up a captured Russian serviceman wearing a booby-trapped collar and carrying a booby-trapped backpack after forcing him to walk toward Russian army positions, a commander of one of the battlegroup Center’s units told TASS.

According to him, the booby-trapped prisoner and two Ukrainian troops approached a Russian dugout and began trying to persuade the soldiers to surrender. "Our drones flew over to take a look and saw a man standing there with a collar around his neck. The collar was actually a MON-50 anti-personnel mine. He had a backpack that, as the guys later said, was filled with explosives," the commander explained, noting that the Ukrainian troops were neutralized by drones, while the prisoner of war tried to move away from the Russian army positions. "The enemy blew him up when we began firing," the defense official noted.

A Russian serviceman with the call sign Zemlyak had previously told TASS that Ukrainian troops had begun using prisoners as human bombs by strapping devices with GPS transmitters around their necks. Such "death collars" containing mines and TNT have been observed in several sectors along the line of engagement. According to security officials, militants from the Azov group (a terrorist organization recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia), Ukraine’s 36th separate marine brigade, and the 79th separate airborne assault brigade are using them.