Ukraine soldier says Russian troops were caught so off-guard that they were ‘sitting in the forest drinking coffiee’: ‘Didn’t expect us’

Russian troops were so caught off guard in Kyiv’s surprise incursion in the Kursk region last week that one Ukrainian soldier recalled how they were still “sitting in the forest and drinking coffee” when they were confronted, according to a new report. The soldier, who only identified himself as Volodymyr, said he was part of the first wave of troops crossing into Russia on Aug. 6 in a US-provided Stryker fighter vehicle when he came across the startled Kremlin forces, according to The Financial Times.

“Then our Stryker drives right into their table,” he said of the surprise attack. “We killed many of them on the first day. Because they were unarmed and didn’t expect us.

” The soldier’s account portrays just how unexpected Ukraine’s incursion gambit was as Moscow scrambles to fight off Kyiv’s forces, which control about 82 settlements in western Russia. Volodymyr, himself, was astonished at how little resistance his unit faced as their eight-wheeled, 20-ton vehicle stormed across the border in broad daylight. So weak was the Russian defense that the fear the Ukrainian troops felt over such a harrowing undertaking soon turned to exhilaration as they took out Kremlin fighters and encountered other forces that simply surrendered.

Volodymyr told the Times that the border and neighboring lands were barely manned, allowing his unit to quickly advance into Russian villages, seizing the towns, a railway line and a key gas transit point. The armored vehicle unit w.