A stutter on the air saved soldiers from captivity in Zaporizhzhia
On the Zaporizhzhia front, Ukrainian troops realized that their comrades had been taken prisoner based on unusual responses during radio communications. The soldiers continued to speak using standard phrases, but suddenly began to stutter, which aroused suspicion among the command. After an investigation, it turned out that four Russian soldiers had captured the position.
Ihor “Ryaba,” commander of the 9th Company of the 3rd Mechanized Battalion of the Separate Presidential Brigade named after Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, recounted this incident. According to him, after a rotation, Ukrainian troops took up a position in the Zaporizhzhia sector. The soldiers held it and even took Russian soldiers prisoner. For some time, everything was calm. But at some point, communication with the position was lost.
At first, the command did not see anything unusual in this. They assumed that the soldiers might have been conducting engineering work, which is why they were temporarily out of contact. Later, radio communication was restored. The Ukrainian soldiers heard responses that seemed normal in content. But something was off. The soldiers were using standard phrases, specifically reporting “4.5.0.” At the same time, they were speaking unusually—they had started to stutter. “They were saying all the standard things: ‘4.5.0’ and other memorized phrases. But for some reason, they started stuttering. We began to suspect that they were doing it on purpose, trying to convey something else to us,” the commander said.
This aroused suspicion among the soldiers at the command and observation post. The information was relayed to command. After that, the position and the surrounding area were further inspected from the air. It then became clear that Ukrainian fighters were indeed no longer in control of the position. Four Russian soldiers had entered the area and taken the Ukrainian defenders prisoner.
But during surveillance, Ukrainian troops noticed another detail. The Russians reacted very nervously to Ukrainian drones. Whenever a drone appeared over the position, they tried to hide. “They would come out of the dugout, but as soon as they saw any ‘little bird’—they’d immediately hide back inside,” said Ihor “Ryaba.”
The Ukrainian command decided to take advantage of this reaction. Instead of immediately attempting to storm the position, the soldiers decided to first try to free their comrades through negotiations via radio. They made it clear to the Russian soldiers that the Ukrainian side knew their location.
They were offered several options. One of them involved the Russians releasing the Ukrainian prisoners and withdrawing from their position via a “green corridor.” According to the commander, the harsh conditions were part of psychological pressure. The Ukrainian military tried to convince the Russians that remaining at the position was dangerous for them. Ultimately, three Russian soldiers agreed to leave the Ukrainians behind and withdrew.
Another Russian initially stated that he wanted to surrender. According to Igor “Ryaba,” he spoke about his pregnant girlfriend and begged for his life to be spared. However, the situation later changed. The Russian tried to grab a weapon and attack the Ukrainian soldiers. “And that was his fatal mistake. The outcome, I think, is clear—the 200th,” said the commander.
Thus, Ukrainian troops were able to determine that the position had been captured by the Russians thanks to the fighters’ unusual behavior over the radio. Afterward, the command conducted an aerial reconnaissance of the area and found a way to proceed without an immediate direct assault. Ihor “Ryaba” noted that this incident highlighted the importance of paying close attention when communicating.
According to him, in war, even a slight change in a soldier’s usual behavior can be a significant signal. In this situation, it was precisely the strange stuttering during standard responses that helped the command suspect that something was amiss at the position. The commander also emphasized that unconventional solutions can be effective if they are well thought out and take the enemy’s behavior into account. Ihor “Ryaba,” commander of the 9th Company of the 3rd Mechanized Battalion of the Separate Presidential Brigade named after Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, recounted this incident.
On the night of September 11, the Ukrainian Defense Forces launched a strike on the Saratov Oil Refinery in Russia. Fires were reported on the refinery’s grounds following the attack.
As of the morning of September 10, 2026, the Russian army’s total personnel losses since the start of the full-scale invasion amount to approximately 1,502,390 soldiers. In the past 24 hours alone, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia lost another 1,520 servicemen.
