Intelligence chief Budanov personally persuaded 19 Russians to surrender — Ukrainian fighter 

This was stated by the commander of the Artan special forces group, Oleksandr, alias Liutyi, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

"During one of the missions, the enemy assault group tried to leave the area without being hit, because they realized that they were no longer able to resist. At that time, Budanov was present with us," Liutiy said.

According to him, in a personal conversation, Budanov persuaded 19 Russians to surrender in a radio conversation alone.

"This is incredible strength of spirit. Everyone felt such a moral boost when they heard the voice of our boss. After all, most of us did not realize that the head of intelligence was with us in our sector," the fighter said.

Main Intelligence Directorate special operation: landing in Crimea

On October 4, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine announced that an amphibious operation had been conducted in the territory of Crimea temporarily occupied by Russia, during which an attack on Russian forces was launched. After completing the task, the special forces successfully retreated. 

Main Intelligence Directorate’s spokesman Andriy Yusov said that the group of Russian special forces that landed on the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea suffered losses and retreated after completing the mission. He added that Ukrainian special forces also suffered some losses.

He also said that during the operation in the temporarily occupied Crimea, one of the Ukrainian soldiers was taken prisoner by Russia. In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Budanov also confirmed the information that Russians had taken a Ukrainian soldier prisoner.