Treated in a discreet hospital center, away from the cities, they gradually regain a taste for life. These men were released in the exchange of 75 prisoners of war organized by kyiv and Moscow on May 31 – another exchange of 90 soldiers took place on June 25. They experienced horror twice: the first on the front, with fighting, sometimes an injury, then a defeat and a capture; the second in Russian prisons.
As the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) recalled on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26, being captive in Russia is equivalent to to a real descent into hell. “Every prisoner interviewed reported cases of torture, brutal beatings, prolonged stress positions, electric shocks to the genitals and dog attacks”writes the HRMMU, which met around 600 of the 3,300 Ukrainian prisoners of war exchanged since the Russian invasion of 2022. The UN also denounces “constant hunger” et “lack of appropriate medical care”.
The Ukrainian military intelligence service, the GUR, authorized The world to meet former prisoners who wish to discuss their detention in Russia. The only condition is that neither the location of the meeting be revealed, to avoid it becoming a target, nor the names of the Russian detention centers, so that those still detained do not suffer reprisals following the testimonies of their comrades. Those who agree to the meeting speak freely, without the presence of officers or doctors.
“Regular beating”
Volodymyr, 26 years old, soldier in the National Guard, captured on the Mariupol front, was detained for twenty-six months. “When we arrived at the prison, we were subjected to what the Russians call ‘the reception’: a thorough beating, he says. We slept on dirty, damp mattresses on the floor. We had no drinking water, just water from a truck tank. As an officer, I was treated more harshly than other prisoners. Officers and volunteer enlistees were treated the least well. »
Roman, 29 years old, soldier in the National Guard, captured on the first day of the invasion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, remained a prisoner for twenty-seven months. “I was detained in a 19th century buildinge century, dating from the time of the tsars, cold and damp. The conditions were terrible. We had to stand all the time. We were beaten every time the guards visited us, twice a day, and during interrogations.
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