Death to NATO

Lots of people like that in the Ukraine military these days. It's very plausible this was some poor guy they kidnapped off the street and forced to the front line with a gun at his back. From what i have read they were in the process of replacing the better trained professional assault units that first went into Kursk with lower quality, forcefully mobilized troops for a while now.

They already had a shortage of trained and motivated manpower before, and they spent a lot of them in Kursk which further compounded the problem. Now apparently the remaining elite troops were sent back to the Donbass to try and plug the gaps and halt the collapse that is in the process of happening there, which is a big part of why things went to shit so fast in Sumy-Kursk. They've reached a point where plugging a leak in one place just opens up a bigger one somewhere else.

But i also wouldn't immediately take what someone who was captured is saying at face value. They have a vested interest in downplaying their enthusiasm and potential involvement in war crimes. After the Azov Nazis in Mariupol were captured every one of them claimed to be a cook or a driver.