- Russian drones dropped grenades near soldiers, a Ukrainian commander told The Washington Post.
- He said the goal was to figure out which side each soldier was on, based on where they ran.
Russian drone pilots have dropped grenades over soldiers to try to work out which side they were on, a Ukrainian commander said.
The commander in Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, identified as Rollo, told The Washington Post that Russia used the tactic last month in the battle for the village of Andriivka.
Russian troops became confused by their own force's tactics during the fighting, which sometimes involved sending small groups of soldiers at Ukraine, and at other stages sending in large forces to try and overwhelm them, he said.
He told The Post that Russian drone pilots deployed the tactic, which was described by captured soldiers, to see if the soldiers ran toward Russian or Ukrainian lines, which would reveal which side they were on, he said.
It is not clear if anyone was killed as a result.
Ukraine retook the village, in the southeastern region of Donetsk, last month.
Intercepted Russian radio conversations also appeared to show Russian forces would shoot any of their own soldiers who retreated, Rollo said.
This is a tactic the UK Ministry of Defence says Russia has likely deployed in the fighting.
Other Ukrainian soldiers have reported seeing Russians firing on their own troops when in thick fighting, firing indiscriminately into the battlefield, and killing some of their own soldiers when territory was on the line.