WE GIVE UP
Watch moment Putin’s ‘elite’ FSB officers wave WHITE FLAGS of surrender after Ukrainian blitz across border into Russia
Watch the video to see trembling Russian troops giving up their weapons
DRAMATIC footage caught the moment Vladimir Putin's "elite" FSB officers were forced to wave white flags on Russian soil.
Kyiv's daring Kursk seige has so far seen hundreds of Russian troops surrendering on their own territory as a raging Putin is left scrambling to defend home ground.
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The footage, released by the Ukrainian forces, starts with two alleged FSB officers frantically waving a white flag in a desperate bid to save their own lives.
It is understood the video was shot during the first few hours of the Kursk incursion when crack Ukrainian troops caught Russia off-guard.
The clip then pans to show another man holding a long stick with a white flag on it.
More Russian troops can then be seen coming out of a building - thought to be blitzed by a Ukrainian strike - in a straight line begging for mercy.
More on Kursk incursion
Aerial footage captured by a drone then shows a dozen of Putin's men lifting their hands in the air and giving up in front of the Ukrainians.
Russia's FSB is the largest security service agency in entire Europe.
Claiming the heritage of the elite KGB from the Soviet Era, its officers are considered to be extremely effective at counterintelligence.
Their act of surrendering is a huge blow to Putin and his pals.
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Meanwhile, hundreds of trembling Vlad troops surrendered to Ukraine on their own turf amid claims their commanders abandoned them.
An entire Russian military unit gave up the fight and was taken prisoner of war within the embattled Kursk region, where Ukraine has advanced 20 miles.
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Ukraine's military advisor Anton Gerashchenko, a total of 102 troops waved the white flag - the biggest mass surrender of the war since Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
It's believed the soldiers opted to save their lives by surrendering after their commanders fled the battle.
President Zelenskyy's plan to take on Russia's Kursk region has been extremely successful, with military experts describing the move as a masterstroke.
Just one week into the incursion, Kyiv claimed to have captured a formidable 1,000 square kilometres of Russian soil - more than what Putin was able to seize in the past year.
And the figure is expected to continue to increase as they push on with their fiery war plans, says Ukrainian General Oleksander Syrsky.
Since the end of 2023, Russia has only managed to steal 994 square kilometres of land inside Ukraine, The Telegraph reports.
Reports vary on the exact figure the Kremlin has been able to seize- but the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) gives Putin credit for taking over 1,100 square miles around Donetsk.
But Moscow has also lost around 300,000 troops from the battlefield in this time with many killed or severely wounded, according to Ukrainian military estimates.
The number of casualties continue to rise in Kursk with Putin's men struggling to halt the Ukrainian advance.
Why has the Ukrainian invasion of Russia been so successful?
A DARING Ukrainian military push into Russia's Kursk region has become the largest attack on the country since World War Two.
Kyiv's forces have seized scores of villages, taken hundreds of prisoners and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians.
After more than a week of fighting, Russian troops are still struggling to drive out the invaders.
Why has the Russian military been caught so unprepared?
A long undefended border
Russia's regions of Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod share a 720-mile border with Ukraine - including a 152-mile section in the Kursk region.
And it only had symbolic protection before Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
It's been reinforced since then with checkpoints on key roads and field fortifications in places - but not enough to repel a Ukrainian assault.
The most capable Russian units are fighting in eastern Ukraine, leaving the border vulnerable to attack.
Element of surprise
Ukrainian troops participating in the incursion were reportedly only told about their mission a day before it began.
The secrecy contrasted with last year's counteroffensive - when Ukraine openly declared its goal of cutting the land corridor to annexed Crimea.
Ukraine ended up failing as troops trudged through Russian minefields and were pummelled by artillery and drones.
But in Kursk, Ukrainian troops didn't face any of these obstacles.
Battle-hardened units easily overwhelmed Russian border guards and small infantry units made up of inexperienced conscripts.
The Ukrainians drove deep into the region in several directions - facing little resistance and sowing chaos and panic.
Russia's slow response
The Russian military command initially relied on warplanes and choppers to try to stop the onslaught.
At least one Russian helicopter gunship was shot down and another was damaged.
Moscow began pulling in reinforcements, managing to slow Ukraine's advances - but failed to completely block troops.
It's estimated the Ukrainians have also captured up to 1,200 of their rival soldiers in the staggering surge.
Ukraine's armed forces have been pushing into villages across the Russian border since August 6 amid the first-ever invasion on Russian soil since World War Two.
Russians have been scrambling to defend Kyiv's audacious move, which sparked a "counter-terror" operation in regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk.
They are now sending their own tanks, trucks and troops in to fight Ukrainian troops who caught them off-guard.
Aerial attacks have been traded each night with both forces decimating each other in the barrages across the war-torn region.
But President Zelenskyy has vowed to go "even deeper" into Russia in the coming days as he prepares to hit back at Putin after more than two gruelling years of defending.
He said Russia's town of Sudzha - which is a highly strategic area in terms of geography - is now in the hands of Ukrainian troops.
Sudzha is a pivotal town due to the amount of Russian gas flowing through it.
It would also be the largest Russian town takeover since Nazi Germany invaded the country in the Second World War.
Ukrainian forces say a military commander's office was now being established there as the rampage into Russia continued.
It comes as Aleksei Zhivov, a Russian military volunteer and political analyst, has demanded Putin quiz his top brass over why they ignored clear advance intelligence about the Ukrainian incursion.
The Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov is being blamed amid speculation in Moscow that Putin is readying to replace him.
Defence experts told The Sun Kursk invasion will have some "serious repercussions" in Moscow.
Dr Alan Mendoza said: "It's a very significant moment for the much-vaunted Russian fighting machine that is already damaged.
"Let's not forget its failure to win in Ukraine back in 2022. So it does look like the Russian Emperor has no clothes, as it were in this conflict.
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"It should just raise a lot of question marks about where Russia is heading in this, how it brings the war to a close or whether Ukraine is really going to succeed in pushing Russia out.
"You know Russian victory has now turned on its head, and that tells you that things cannot be good for Mr Putin."
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