Ukraine used US-supplied Bradley IFV to evacuate civilians while under heavy fire, including one woman with her cat: report

• Ukrainian soldiers said they rescued civilians from Robotyne using a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.
• One soldier told CNN that "Russians immediately started shelling us" despite knowing civilians were on board.

Ukrainian troops used a US-supplied Bradley fighting vehicle to evacuate civilians while under heavy fire from Russian forces, according to a new report.

Three soldiers with Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade told CNN that when they took the village of Robotyne in late August, after a month of fighting, they found people hiding in their basements.

The civilians, mostly older men and women who had spent a month underground, were led to the armored vehicle while under fire, the soldiers said.

One soldier, with the call sign Karatsupa, said that Russians "immediately started shelling us. It doesn't matter to them who is there – military or civilians."

"They don't care," he added. "As we closed the Bradley's ramp, the artillery barrage began immediately. Luckily the vehicle is good and we drove away. We reached the next turn and the Russians opened fire on us again, even though they knew we were carrying civilians."

CNN said it was unable to independently confirm that the Russians were aware the vehicle was transporting civilians.

Bradleys are typically used to carry soldiers. Ukrainian troops have previously credited the robust vehicles with saving their lives, but dozens have been abandoned, damaged, or destroyed on the battlefield since the fighting began.

Ukrainian military and volunteers have described evacuating civilians from Russia-controlled areas, or areas where fighting is active, often without armored vehicles or protection.

Civilians rescued from Robotyne wanted to bring some of their possessions with them, Karatsupa told CNN.

A woman took her cat with her, while one man wanted to take his car, which he'd bought with his life savings, driving it out between two Bradleys. The car was ultimately left behind, according to the report.

One soldier, with the call sign Pan, said that possessions can become deeply important for people in places where Russia has taken over.

"Things in the occupied territories are different, belongings there take on a different meaning," he said.

Karatsupa added that the civilians told them that the Russians "had treated them like slaves." The soldiers described the civilians as being filthy and starving.

Robotyne, in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhia region, has been the scene of some of Ukraine's fiercest efforts in its counteroffensive against Russia, which started in June.

Ukraine said on Sunday that it had liberated the village.

Karatsupa said Russia has built huge defenses in the area, which Ukraine and the West say have slowed the counteroffensive.

"I've been serving since 2014 and I've never encountered such minefields anywhere. Just hectares of them, to the left and to the right," Karatsupa said, adding: "A lot of trenches, dugouts. And all this for dozens of kilometers."

"They even throw mines at the territory we are taking. Without the mines, we would already be in Tokmak," he said, referring to a town further into Russia-held territory.