"Left behind like meat": how occupiers live in Ukrainian captivity and what they say
While our prisoners are kept in terrible conditions, Russian prisoners work in one of the camps in Lviv Oblast, and in their free time, they watch movies and read. A month of maintaining this camp alone costs the budget more than two million hryvnias.
hromadske went there to see what the taxpayers' money is spent on and to listen to the stories of Russian prisoners and Ukrainians of the occupied Donbas mobilized in the so-called “LPR” and “DPR” armies.
The still warm autumn sun shines on the camp. The guards give us a tour of the yard. They lead us to an equipped bomb shelter — a well-lit room with tables, where you can sleep if necessary, and soft chairs. Then we enter the sleeping room. Here, spacious windows let in a lot of light. There are bedspreads and white pillows folded in triangles on the beds. Near each bed, there are a stool and one bedside table for two.
We are taken to the next room — a kind of cinema hall. The prisoners are watching the Ukrainian film "Someone Else's Prayer" directed by Akhtem Seitablayev of Crimean Tatar origin. They say that they understand the context, although the film is shown in Ukrainian.
Aleksandr Zakharov, who looks like he is 20-25 years old, shares his impressions: “The point is that despite a different religion, a person still saves the lives of those who need it. We also watch films about history. It is very informative.”
Prisoner Daniil Morozov reads the novel “Goya” about the life of the Spanish artist of the 18th century. He admits that he is not interested in painting, but he reads it because the book is in Russian.
“It is very interesting, but I have not finished reading it yet. But I have already read a collection of stories about Sherlock Holmes,” Morozov says.
The man says that in 2020 he signed a contract because of the money: “I served four months and signed it. I did not want to do military service for nothing. The salary of conscripts is two thousand rubles per month (about UAH 1190 — ed.). I was 20 years old then. And they offered me 45 thousand for the contract (UAH 27000 — ed.). So why not?”
Then we go outside. Here, the prisoners were lined up for inspection. I ask the prisoners if there is anyone who does not mind talking to us. In response, only one man raised his hand.
Either serve or go to prison
The man is 32 years old. His surname is like that of a famous Soviet Marshal — Zhukov. Only his name is Yuriy and he is a sergeant, a contract soldier. He was captured on September 6. Before the full-scale invasion, he served in Kaliningrad. He says that the militaries of his unit were forced to go to war in Ukraine.
“Many people tried to refuse, wrote letters of resignation. These letters were not accepted. They were not legally registered. Leadership just made fools of them. They intimidated them with the threat of up to 15 years in prison for refusing to go.”
Zhukov notes that his company, which is a formation of the 7th separate motorized rifle regiment of the military unit No. 06414, was in Kharkiv Oblast, near the village of Verbivka, for about six months. During this time, he and his colleagues repeatedly asked the commanders to return them home, but no one listened.
“Everyone was physically and mentally tired, exhausted. Everyone lost vigilance. Six months have passed, and for some reason, we are not replaced. I said I refuse to fight against Ukraine because I have not seen any Banderites and (Nazi — ed.) groups. If we had to defend Donetsk and Luhansk, how did Russian troops end up in Kharkiv, Balakliia, Chernihiv? We were told: ‘You are here until the end, you will stay until spring’”.
Their mobile phones were taken away, Zhukov says. So he could not even call his family. Now he has such an opportunity. Once a week he calls his wife.
“I am very dissatisfied that some Medvedchuk was exchanged for 200 people. We are not expendable material. Therefore, before taking up arms, you must first think carefully about it. About your family, friends, your mother, and your wife. The command needs you while you are on your feet. If something happens to you, none of your colleagues will give you a glass of water. This is a bitter truth, you have to accept it”.
While we are talking to Yuriy, other prisoners are playing football. To identify who is on what team, the men of the same team put their caps on backwards.
“There is a strict schedule here. The administration keeps strict control over each soldier, there are constant lining-ups at 6 am, 9 am. When the shift changes, they check people by name,” Zhukov says.
To the army for a drink
After the conversation, the man asks for a cigarette. Seeing that this is the way to get tobacco, more people are willing to talk to us. Several men take turns telling their stories.
Sergey Rusanov from the Orel region complains that his “comrades in arms” left him to fend for himself when the Armed Forces of Ukraine went on the offensive. He says that he worked in a construction battalion. Once, while working, he tripped over a brick and injured his leg so badly that he could not move.
“I was left with this leg. I could not walk. When your people started throwing mines, I was put in a car, but it got stuck. I sat there for a day until your soldiers came.”
Most of the prisoners tell stories to justify themselves. All of them claim that they were sent to war by force. And that they did not fight at all. Some cooked, some dug trenches, some built. And they had nothing to do with weapons.
Rusanov says that he got to the front because of drinking.
“I was drunk, the police came and took me away. The police showed me a bag. I do not know what was inside. They just asked: ‘Do you know what it is, or not?’ Maybe it was flour or washing powder. I don't know exactly. And they said: 'Either go to Ukraine for three months, or we will put you in prison for at least four years'.”
Sergey says that they wanted to send his cousin to fight with the Ukrainians in the same way — they threatened to imprison him for drug possession, but he got out of it. In general, there is no one who would support the war and Putin among the prisoners, Rusanov says. They are all against it, but for some reason, they found themselves with weapons in a foreign country.
“It's crazy, what's all this for? Mobilization? First, they took drunks (to the army — ed.), and then they announced mobilization. Ask anyone among the prisoners — there is no support. Everyone wants to go home. They left us behind like meat. but it is not clear what all this is for. I don't know what Putin wanted from Ukraine”.
Lunch break
For lunch, the prisoners are brought in a column to the dining room. They line up and wait in a disciplined manner for the command to start eating. Most of them stand with their heads down. “We are ashamed to face Ukrainians,” explains one of the men in line.
Mykyta Vysotskyi, a Ukrainian from Luhansk who was mobilized into the army of the so-called "LPR", works in the kitchen: “My duties include serving food, cooking potatoes, peeling vegetables, and cleaning the hall.”
Here it smells like a school canteen. The day we came to the camp, there was soup, potatoes with meat, cabbage salad and a big piece of bread for lunch.
“It is very tasty, they feed us well here. In the evening they give us porridge with fish, tea, and bread,” - says Ruslan Abilov, a prisoner.
“It is better to work with a hammer than to run with a machine gun”
The prisoners work here for 8 hours a day. They assemble wooden pallets and make sticks to support indoor plants. They are even paid money for this. For this money, they can buy soap, tea, and sweets in the camp shop.
“Time passes faster when you work. I would probably rather work with a hammer than run around with a machine gun,” says 20-year-old Daniil Kornilov.
A guy from the Far East, he does not even know Russian well — he constantly makes mistakes. He joined the army because he dreamed of “defending the homeland” since childhood, and now he says that he feels ashamed, and in general, regrets that he joined the armed forces of Russia.
“Shame for looting, for war crimes. Also, officers do not respect their soldiers at all. Most of the prisoners whom I met told me this. It happens that an officer just leaves the unit behind. This is the act of a real coward,” Kornilov believes.
“We don't leave our people behind?”
Soldiers in the medical unit tell a similar story. Here they are recovering from wounds received in battle. Sviatoslav Bystrov was captured in Kharkiv Oblast last month. He says that he repaired communication nodes at the front. And during the battle, he hasn’t seen a single officer.
“The command left us. On September 24, when there was a battle in Pisky-Radkivski (a village in Izium Raion — ed.), we were already in a tight ring, and it was simply impossible to leave. We were in the ring since the 22nd, that is for two days. And we did not know about it at all. I mean, the command had to know about it. I think they left ahead of time,” Bystrov says.
During the battle, the man was wounded in the leg, but he gave his bandage kit to his comrade at the beginning of the fight. He tells how he was given first aid: “I was thrown into the a multi-purpose towing vehicle light armoredMTLB. There were no medicines there. We found a small book called ‘Muslim prayers’ in one of the first aid kits. They put it on the wound and covered it with a thin plaster. Then they found a bandage.”
He and seven other wounded Russian soldiers stayed in the armored personnel carrier for almost a day. During the night, three died of wounds. And the drivers, according to Bystrov, fled somewhere.
In the same ward is Grigoriy Semenov, who served in the 12th tank regiment of the military unit No. 31985 in the Moscow region. He was also wounded in Kharkiv Oblast last month. His elbow and knee were shot. He says that the last time he held a weapon in his hands was in January, during the oath ceremony. And at the war, he says, he was repairing communication nodes. Before joining the army, the man worked as a calligrapher, but he received a summons, so he went to military service. In his unit, all conscripts who served four months were forced to sign a contract and go to war.
“At first, they agitated us with salary, said how good it was there. Since I served in the Strategic Missile Forces, they promised that it would be air defense protection, work in hangars, in the rear, ‘you will never see the enemy’. A lure. No one agreed, and then came the order to recruit people. We signed a contract conditionally voluntarily”.
“You don't want to fight? 10 years in prison". Mobilization in Donbas
Almost half of the prisoners in the camp are from Donbas. The men interviewed by hromadske say that they were mobilized by force. Serhii Halonskyi is 47 years old. He served many years in prison, but the prison did not save him from the army of the so-called "DPR".
“In the evening I quarreled with my wife, and the police were called. The police arrived and took me away, instead of the police station they took me to the military enlistment office. They kept me there until the morning. In the morning I was taken under escort to the recruiting station. Under escort, they put me on a bus, took me to Yenakiieve, and changed my clothes. I said that I did not have any documents, and they told me: ‘You won't need them’. I said that I served 17 and a half years in prison, what kind of soldier am I? I was told: ‘If you fight — everything will be fine, if you do not want to fight — 10 years in prison’.”
Serhii says that he was a cook at the front. When the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine began, he was ordered to collect combat rations, he was delayed, and his colleagues left without him.
“It turns out that I was abandoned. For this, I am very grateful to my platoon commander. Well, you understand what I mean,” - Halonskyi says.
Another prisoner approaches us. Vitalii Volkov is a resident of Luhansk. He tells how he was taken to the "LPR" army. He says, he came to the mine to get a job, and from there he was forcibly sent to the front. Volkov asks to send greetings to his mother, as he does not remember her phone number.
“Hi, mom! I have been in captivity in Ukraine for several months. There is normal food, normal people, a nice bed, and a lot of free time. I hope to see you in the future”.
Author: Yevhenii Shulhat. The material was created with the support of Mediaset.