Two Ukrainian servicemen have been captured while attempting to infiltrate the city of Konstantinovka in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to create the illusion that Kiev’s troops remained present there, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

Konstantinovka is “fully under the control” of Russian forces, but Ukrainian commanders continue to send soldiers on knowingly impossible missions for propaganda purposes, the ministry said on Sunday, describing the attempted flag-planting as a botched PR stunt.

“We were sent into the city of Konstantinovka knowing that it was controlled by Russian soldiers. Our comrades were killed, while we were kept alive and treated with respect,” the captured troops said in footage released by the ministry. The men identified themselves as Evgeny Mosin and Sergey Stolyarsky from Ukraine’s infamous 425th Separate Assault Regiment ‘Skelia’ (formerly Skala).

The video shows them holding Ukrainian banners bearing photographs of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and military commander Aleksandr Syrsky. They then drop the banners, unfurl a Russian flag, and thank Russia’s 4th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade for taking them prisoner and sparing their lives.

Russia announced the full capture of Konstantinovka on July 3. The heavily fortified city served as the southern outpost of Ukraine’s principal remaining defensive agglomeration in Donbass, centered on Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.

Russian forces have since expanded their zone of control northwest of Konstantinovka toward Druzhkovka and entered the nearby settlement of Alekseyevo-Druzhkovka, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Saturday. Moscow also says Ukrainian defenses in Krasny Liman, northeast of Slavyansk, have been broken and that Russian troops are eliminating the remaining pockets of resistance.