By Olha Hembik | 2025-02-04

WARSAW -- A Ukrainian website is providing Russian troops who want to surrender a safe, convenient and anonymous way to identify themselves -- attracting 12,800 inquiries last year alone.

In a viral online video styled after the video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov calls on Russians to surrender.

"Listen to me carefully. If you are sent to the 'Zone,' surrender. There are only upsides," says the animated Budanov.

Budanov's agency, the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), arranged the production of the video, which the "I Want to Live" project published on Telegram November 23.

I Want to Live

Ukrainian officials created I Want to Live soon after the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion to facilitate the surrender of Russian and Belarusian troops.

More information about the I Want to Live project can be viewed on its website and Telegram channel.

"This project was created to encourage Russians who did not want to go to war, who do not want to commit war crimes, who do not want to kill -- to surrender and save their lives," said Bohdan Okhrimenko, director of the Secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (KSHPPV), told Army Inform in an interview published January 3.

KSHPPV, a temporary auxiliary body of the Ukrainian cabinet, administers the project, supported by the Ministry of Defense and HUR.

The project provides a convenient procedure for those who wish to surrender to declare themselves -- via a chatbot, messaging app, social networks or phone.

Russian military personnel who want to surrender can contact I Want to Live and indicate their location. Ukrainian intelligence replies and describes how to safely cross the contact line.

"Organizing [the project] is complex. Some of its stages are hidden from public view," said Okhrimenko.

The project received more than 12,800 messages last year. Its website had 1.4 million visits, of which 1.2 million were from Russia.

In 2024, 85 Russians surrendered through the project, UA War Infographics posted on Telegram, citing HUR. Twenty-six of the Russians who surrendered later joined the Ukrainian military.

How prisoners are taken captive

In a video posted on I Want to Live's YouTube channel January 26, 24-year-old Belarus native and Russian mercenary Dmitry Ananchik described how he ended up surrendering to the Ukrainian military.

Ananchik said he came to temporarily occupied Luhansk to work on a construction site, the job ended, and when police detained him as an illegal immigrant, he was forced to sign a contract to fight.

"A comrade was killed, but I was taken prisoner," said Ananchik. "Ukrainian military personnel ... asked me to surrender voluntarily. They said I would be traded. Later they took me to a camp for prisoners of war ... They said Russia will exchange prisoners for you; you'll return to your homeland."

Many Russian soldiers are now less motivated on the battlefield and more willing to surrender, according to Vladimir (call sign "Maly"), a first sergeant in the Kholodnyi Yar 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade.

Maly said he personally has captured about 100 Russian military personnel, including officers, since the beginning of the war.

The largest number of men he took prisoner at once was 12.

"The last one to be captured was a contract soldier from Sochi. [We caught him] near Klishchiivka. He had a lengthy criminal record," Maly told Kontur.

Russian police forced the man to join the army after they "found a little gunpowder in the bottom of a jar at his home," Maly said. "After a forensic examination, they brought back a now-full jar and said, 'if you don't sign the contract, we'll put you in jail.'"

An opportunity to survive

Russians who ended up in the army "because of their own stupidity are looking for opportunities to survive in this war," said Vladislav Seleznev, a military correspondent and former spokesman for the Ukrainian general staff.

"And they have that opportunity," he told Kontur.

"I Want to Live is being implemented for those Russian service members who want to surrender and avoid being held responsible for their actions in the future," Seleznev said.

"A systematic approach, clear actions and corresponding assurances from government agencies are very important in this process."

"Thanks to this project, men have even come over to our side with weapons or as entire platoons. With tanks, with helicopters, with vehicles," said Okhrimenko of KSHPPV. "In total, taking everyone together, perhaps even more than one battalion [at least 400 men] has already surrendered."

Ukrainian intelligence agencies create a cover story for every surrendering Russian.

"All who voluntarily surrender will be registered as having been captured in battle. This preserves ... all payments and benefits owed to Russian military personnel," according to the project's website.

Prisoners of war may be returned to Russia in an exchange. They are also guaranteed the right to remain in Ukraine until the combat ends or the regime in their homeland changes.