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On the night of September 22, Russia and Ukraine conducted an unequal exchange of prisoners. 55 Russian prisoners of war (POWs) came back to Russia, while Ukraine received 215 POWs, among them the commanders of the Azov battalion banned in Russia and foreign mercenaries who were sentenced to death in the DPR.
The official representative of the Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov said: “As a result of a complex negotiation process on the exchange, 55 servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Donetsk and Lugansk republics, who were in mortal danger in captivity, were returned from the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Kiev regime tonight. Currently, all military personnel have been transported by military transport aircraft to the territory of the Russian Federation and are in medical institutions of the Ministry of Defense of Russia. All released servicemen have been given the opportunity to contact their relatives by phone. They are provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance.”
Ukrainian opposition politician Viktor Medvedchuk was among the prisoners who came to Russia.
Some of the Russian POWs were taken to hospitals. They confirmed tortures and inhumane treatment by Ukrainian nazis. Some of them were interviewed, providing details :
Released from captivity, the military Pavel Yun spoke about the monstrous attitude towards them of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The prisoners were not just beaten, but left with bruises in the shape of ZV, these symbols were burned on the body with a soldering iron. They were also subjected to psychological violence and Russophobic propaganda.
The first six days after being captured, they were not fed at all, they were given only one bottle of water for two, once a day they were taken to the toilet. Even to the wounded there was no leniency.
“When we were captured we were immediately blindfolded straight away so we couldn’t see anything. They tied it very tight so that we did not see anything at all and so passed the first 10-12 days.
They brought us first to some incomprehensible building, after which the interrogation began. I was not in the first batch from our direction and I could hear other comrades from my unit being interrogated. I heard loud screams, after which we were told that I, as an officer, would go to the interrogation next.
I went for interrogation, the first words were: “Why did you come here?”
After they asked my position. When I said that I was an artilleryman and after that they immediately said: This is for you for ours! They began to use tapic with electricity and beating with a baton.
After that, they began to interrogate and for some incorrect answers they also began to beat with a baton and use tapic. After that, the first six days we were not fed at all, they gave us one bottle for two. I was injured, they could give me one bottle a day. They took us to the toilet once a day.
The news they show in the publics, they showed us this and said: Your country is bad!
They put pressure on the moral and mental state.
For example, they would come up and say, “Hey, you sailor!” or “Hey, you’re fat!,” kicking in the ribs. There were a lot of such people who were cauterized. Many of the bruises were in the form of V.”
Torture continued practically every day of his captivity, only once he was taken under video cameras and allowed to call his relatives – to show the West the alleged humanity of the Kiev regime.
“I was taken prisoner after I fought off the group. I came under fire from the enemy. They brought me to some private house, interrogations, torture and the worst thing that I had to go through began there. Under shelling is not as scary as these torture, interrogations. They beat me up.
Any story that didn’t suit them, any response that didn’t suit them, led to a group beating of me.
Are you an officer? No – and they started beating me. Where’s your walkie-talkie? No. They started beating. They beat me with a stool, legs, mop, jumped a crowd on me. They broke a stool about me and said, “You’re a cattle, you broke our stool!” And they started hitting the head again.
They poked me with needles, pierced my ear (cartilage), then pierced my nose, poked into my skin, they liked to just mock. They threatened with reprisals, like: they will pour mounting foam into my throat, with cement, put a mop “THERE”, break a bottle inside me, something else. Such perverted threats were constantly received.
Afterwards, the torture, there was a slightly different type: they drowned me, put a tunic on my head and pushed me under the sink, stuffed a bottle down my throat so that I would choke. They asked: do you want to drink? I said: no! They answered: not a question! And again they stuffed the bottle down the throat and continued to beat.
Then I was sent to another place, presumably to Kiev. All that was good there was “on camera,” all that was not “on camera,” it was constant humiliation, insults to all servicemen: “You are an occupier, you are a fascist, you came to kill our brothers, we just take revenge on you for this!”
They let me call my wife once, but it was all done “on camera” to show their residents and those who support them (other countries): “Look, we are good, we provide servicemen with the opportunity to call their families and let the country know that they are in captivity”. It’s hard. We could not communicate with relatives, but we really wanted to.
As a result of these tortures and beatings, my heart was beaten off, my right atrium overload, my spleen was removed because it was torn after numerous blows.
We were quickly taken to the airport, we got on the plane and no one believed, the guys were captured for six months, they generally forgot what is the world. We boarded the plane – no one believed. We get off the plane there reporters, a lot of people, you feel strength and air at once, finally Moscow”.
He call:
– Hi!
– What are the numbers where you are?
– In Moscow.
– Why are you scaring me so much, my heart will pop out now. Are you among our 55?
– Yes! I am already in Moscow, in Podolsk, in the hospital, tonight we were just brought us. Show me the kids.
– You’re skinny, skin and bones.
– The son at school. Sasha, Daddy’s calling! She missed you so much!
– Hi!
– Hey, are you sleeping? Your dad’s coming soon!
– Dad has two jobs left.
Viktor Kravchenko, a released serviceman: “At the beginning, when we were still in the field with the paratroopers, talking, they offered us “something” to chop off or cut off.
Then in the insulator they also offered something to cut or pour foam.
Then in the evening they took us, like in a pre-trial detention center, there was moral pressure, the same questions: “Why did you come here?”, “You are invaders, occupiers.”
But comrades came and said that they were beaten for two days, somewhere, not in captivity, but it is not clear where. Someone’s three days.”
Ilya Yun, released serviceman: “When we were captured we were immediately blindfolded straight away so we couldn’t see anything. They tied it very tight so that we did not see anything at all and so passed the first 10-12 days.
They brought us first to some incomprehensible building, after which the interrogation began. I was not in the first batch from our direction and I could hear other comrades from my unit being interrogated. I heard loud screams, after which we were told that I, as an officer, would go to the interrogation next.
I went for interrogation, the first words were: “Why did you come here?”
After they asked my position. When I said that I was an artilleryman and after that they immediately said: This is for you for ours! They began to use tapic with electricity and beating with a baton.
After that, they began to interrogate and for some incorrect answers they also began to beat with a baton and use tapic.”
Viktor Kravchenko, released serviceman: “I think that our should be taken somehow from there. It is important for us that we have not been forgotten and we have not been left there for life, or we would have been given for organs, maybe shot.”
Pavel Goge, released serviceman: “We were ambushed, an RPG shell flew into us, the mechanic immediately wounded from his leg to his groin, the BMP caught fire, we drove another 200 meters. The BMP stalled and caught fire. I was lying, sitting at first, then lying, everything is white in front of my eyes, I wanted to get up, but it didn’t work out for me.
I only got up when the BC started exploding. I found strength in myself, jumped into the “butterfly” and that’s it, lost consciousness. I woke up, I don’t even know how long, crept a little, lost consciousness again. The second time I regained consciousness, two people have already dragged me away from the car and their mortar was working on us, fragments were flying, I did not understand all this, they were dragging me like this.
They dragged me, put me on my knees, blindfolded my hands, my head. First question: Where is the tank? First there was a blow, and then: Where is the tank? Then again. I said that I am not a tankman and do not know (so as not to give up our positions). They said: The tank is ours!
Afterwards, they continued, later they started filming everything on video, when they filmed it – they beat me. They cut my bushlat as they searched for documents, cut my entire uniform, threatened me with a knife. Then they threw me into a pickup truck and we left somewhere.
About 15 people arrived there, they began to take pictures with me: “Look, we caught the orc, an occupant!” They took pictures, took a video, took me by the collar, raised my head and took pictures, eyes were blindfolded. This is according to my feelings.
Yes, they mocked and from the voices it was heard that there were not only Ukrainians, but a foreign speech, Arabic, was heard. Perhaps it was a house, played music there. After that, they took pictures with me, put a knife to my eye, put it to my groin, said: “We will cut off everything there for you now if you do not confess!”
Then it got dark and we arrived, either in prison or in the basement. We were identified in the basement, thrown to the floor, given water and said: that’s it, lie down!
The next day, closer to 10 o’clock in the morning, they took us out again, they started saying again: “why did you come here? You are a rashist, a fascist!”
There was foul language on their side. Then we were thrown into the car again and drove to Kiev. When we stopped, I raised my head and it was written about Kiev.
They brought us, as a sleeping place there was a pallet, a karemat and a blanket were given. For the first three days I practically did not get up, and if I got up, then only go to the toilet. I didn’t eat anything, my head just buzzed, when I got up my head started to spin because they beat my whole head off.
In the final place where we sat, they didn’t beat us there, they seemed to abide by the convention there, because there were reporters there all the time, any of their actions there were “on camera”: “Look how good we are!”
But in fact, no!”
According to some reports, many Russian servicemen returned from captivity castrated. Some guys committed suicide on their return home. Only after an autopsy in the morgue did the parents find out that their child was castrated in captivity. Russian media are silent about this for ethical reasons. The Russian side could not reveal all the horrific detail on the tortures as the prisoners exchange was carried out right after the announcement of the partial mobilization in Russia.
As for the Ukrainian prisoners, in total 215 were released. 118 National guardsmen, including 108 servicemen of the Nazi Azov regiment. Among them, there are notorious Azov commanders Denis Prokopenko (Radish), Sergei Volynsky (Volyn) and Svyatoslav Palamar (Kalina).
Among the exchanged Azov fighters, there are Konstantin (Fox) Nikitenko and Nikolai (Frost) Kushch, who surrendered at Azovstal. They were found guilty by the tribunal of shooting civilians and Russian prisoners. Frost “became famous” by sharing videos on the Internet. On of them showed a Russian tankman being shot in the stomach.
Glory to Ukraine, Mr. President. We are doing well, our health is satisfactory. Thank you and the whole team for what you did.
The exchange fund also included at least 10 foreign mercenaries, among them Britons Sean Pinner and Aiden Aslin, as well as Moroccan citizen Saadoun Brahim. All three were captured in April, and in the summer were sentenced to death in the DPR. The DPR claimed that in accordance with international humanitarian law, mercenaries cannot be considered combatants and claim the status of prisoners of war. Thus, they could not be exchanged. Among the foreigners released from captivity, there were five Britons, two US citizens, one citizen of Morocco, Sweden and Croatia.
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The recent exchange is a complete media failure for the Russian side. As expected, the Kiev regime claimed that the exchange was a ‘major victory’ and used Ukrainian prisoners to accuse the Russian military of alleged torture. Kiev has officially claimed that there are 46 Ukrainian media personalities, that is, including Nazis like Frost, who became famous for murder. This fact shows that, among other things, the exchange had an important media purpose.
The head of Ukrainian intelligence claimed: “(The POWs) are in different states. Unfortunately, this is true. There are individuals who are physically more or less in a normal state, with the exception of chronic malnutrition, which is associated with difficult conditions of imprisonment. There are individuals who have been subjected to severe torture.”
So far, no evidences have been provided. Azov commanders are safe and sound, giving interviews to the MSM. However, the simple truth (that Kiev is lying) is intentionally being ignored by MSM.
