Some Russian soldiers were killed and many more were injured when they were given poisoned food and alcohol by civilians in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday. The soldiers came from the 3rd Russian Motorized Rifle Division, according to a Facebook post by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate. The post reported that two Russian soldiers were killed and 28 were in intensive care after being given poisoned cakes in the city of Izium. Another 500 Russian soldiers were taken to hospitals due to severe alcohol poisoning, according to the report. Officials said the Russian government was dismissing the allegations as “non-combat casualties.” The post also reported that Ukrainian civilians were resisting Russian forces by all available means. Insider could not independently verify the poisonings. Stories of Ukrainian civilians resisting Russian forces continue to appear. Even before the invasion began, ordinary Ukrainian citizens were trained in combat and learned how to make Molotov cocktails. The videos have immortalized Ukrainians confronting and blocking Russian tanks, resulting in images reminiscent of the “tank man” in Tiananmen Square. Last month, a grandmother in the Kiev capital said she pulled out a suspicious drone by throwing a jar of pickled tomatoes at him. Izium is located in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine, where the city of Kharkiv has experienced some of the fiercest fighting and bombing since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24. But Russian troops have also suffered heavy casualties since the start of the war. NATO said last week that an estimated 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the first month of the war. Ukrainian officials also said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had regained control of areas around Kyiv.
