Similar Stories to An Elite Russian Commander Told Moscow's Troops That They Would 'go To Heaven' If They Died In Kursk on Bing News

Local volunteers walk past a building damaged by Ukrainian strikes in Kursk.TATYANA MAKEYEVA/Getty ImagesA Russian commander said that soldiers who died serving their country in Kursk would go to heaven.Ukraine's counteroffensive into Kursk took its Western allies and Russia by surprise.Kyiv says its forces have captured roughly 386 square miles of Russian territory since August 6.A Russian special forces unit commander told the parents of conscripts that their children would go to heaven if they died serving their country in Kursk.Ukraine launched an offensive into Russia's Kursk region on August 6, taking both Russia and the West by surprise and forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to divert some troops from Ukraine.Following the incursion, commander Apti Alaudinov said he observed parents demanding that their children be taken out of the combat zone.In a message shared on his Telegram channel on August 18, Alaudinov said it is their duty to protect the country when it's being attacked.He said conscripts who die defending "their Fatherland, their faith" will "go to heaven," Russian-language media outlet Meduza reported, citing the Telegram video.The incursion was a surprise as NATO officials thought that Ukraine would have to wait another year to launch a counteroffensive.