25 years in a maximum security colony. What will happen to captured Azov fighters sentenced in occupied Donetsk Oblast?

After hromadske published a story about Ukrainian prisoners of war from Azov who are being tried in Russia, relatives of the Azov men who have already been convicted by the Russians contacted the editorial office.

"We need publicity to prevent those who have already received terrible sentences from dying," wrote Viktoria Tkachenko, the mother of a convicted prisoner.

Below are the stories of Azov fighters who were convicted in the occupied Donetsk Oblast.

Yevhen Tkachenko, 32, staff sergeant

Yevhen Tkachenko signed a contract with the National Guard six months after completing his military service. As part of the National Guard, he participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation and fought near Slovyansk. He joined Azov in 2020.

In February 2022, Yevhen insisted that his wife and two daughters leave Mariupol on the evening of February 23 to visit their relatives. The last time Yevhen got in touch was in March 2022, when he sent a text message that he was alive.

"I know that other relatives are receiving calls from investigators or lawyers in Donetsk, but no one has called us," says Yevhen's mother, Viktoria. "When a video appeared of our men being taken away from Azovstal to be taken to Olenivka, I saw my son, and the Russians were searching him. He was shriveled up like an old man with black hands. At first, I thought his hands were burned, but then they explained to me that it was dirt and soot. I also saw him in a Russian report from Olenivka. I couldn't believe that I was so lucky that I could make sure he was alive." 

On July 29, 2022, Russians blew up the barracks of the Olenivka colony where Ukrainians were held. Viktoria even donated her blood to a DNA bank in case they had to identify her son's body. It was only two months later that the guys who were released from captivity told her that Yevhen was alive and had been transported to Donetsk before the tragedy in Olenivka.

"I learned from the Russian news that on April 12, 2023, a trial of the 'Ukrainian Nazi' Yevhen Tkachenko took place in Donetsk. The Russian channel ORT also showed a video of Yevhen's interrogation. He had this yellow-gray face and spoke some kind of memorized text, saying what was necessary for Russian propaganda. He admitted to all the charges: that he had damaged civilian property, violated the rules of war, and wanted to kill a civilian woman with a grenade launcher. There were enough charges for 16 years in prison!"

Yevhen Vysotskyi, 28, junior sergeant

"My son stayed at Azovstal until the end, he left by order of the command; back then, Kyiv said that it was not captivity, but an evacuation, that all the guys would return home in a few months. And did anyone bring them back? On May 31, my son was sentenced to 25 years in a strict regime colony in Donetsk. The lawyer said that at the end of June, he was to be taken from the Donetsk pre-trial detention center to some colony. Where to? Nobody knows. Will he be taken somewhere deep in Russia, who will find him there and when, how will he be exchanged?" wonders Ms. Valentyna, the mother of Yevhen Vysotsky, who was convicted by the Russians.

She appealed to the UN and the European Court of Human Rights to bring her son home. In response, she heard the same thing: "Wait, if possible, he will be exchanged."

Yevhen joined the Azov Regiment in 2021. Prior to that, the graduate of Kharkiv Automobile and Highway University had been serving under contract in other units of the National Guard for several years. He lived in Mariupol with his family.

"He called me around the beginning of March 2022, he was very worried about his wife. She was pregnant with their second child, hiding from the shelling in the basement with her daughter," says Valentyna. "We were able to bring Maryna here to us in Kharkiv Oblast only in April. In May, he told Maryna that they were going to be evacuated from Azovstal and would be home soon. And the next call was in July 2022 from Olenivka prison. We told him then that the ultrasound showed Maryna would have a son."

On May 30, 2023, Maryna received a call from an unknown number. It was Yevhen's Donetsk lawyer. He said that there would be a trial tomorrow, on May 31, and that Yevhen was asking when his son was born and what his name was.

Vysotskyi was accused of killing two civilians in Mariupol. His mother found a video online from a Russian channel showing Yevhen being brought to Mariupol for a so-called investigative experiment, and he told how he killed those people. There was also a video of his interrogation on the Internet.

"I did not recognize him, he was very exhausted, wearing some shorts, his legs were swollen. They are not allowed to sit down in the cell from six in the morning to ten in the evening, so their legs swell. I don't know how I didn't go crazy looking at all that. It's good that the guys who were also in the Donetsk remand prison and who have already been released from captivity warned me that our prisoners are forced to agree to all the charges, saying that Yevhen was promised to reduce his actual prison sentence to two years. What was he supposed to do?"

Roman Kharchenko, 38, sergeant

For health reasons, Roman Kharchenko was not eligible for military service as he had heart problems. However, he wanted to join the army so badly that he brought someone else's cardiogram to the medical board.

In 2014, Roman was going to fight in the newly created Azov Regiment. But his youngest son was born, his wife needed help, and he stayed at home. Someone else's cardiogram did not help, and the man suffered a heart attack, but in 2018 he did join Azov.

He served in Mariupol, and Olya and her sons lived in a village near Vuhledar. In January 2022, Roman came to visit them on a leave, and that was the last time they saw each other.

"My children and I left for Ivano-Frankivsk in March 2022," says Olha Kharchenko. "He called us on April 5, saying that nothing was left of Mariupol, that the situation was difficult. Then there was another call, Roman said that he had been wounded in the arm and back, that he was stitched up at Azovstal, provided medical care, and that everything was more or less normal. And on May 20, 2022, he was taken from Azovstal to Olenivka along with everyone else, and in July he was already in the Donetsk detention center. Back in May 2022, I received a call from the Red Cross, saying that Roman was on the list of prisoners, that Russia had confirmed his status, which meant he should return soon. And in January 2023, he was on the exchange list, but for some reason, he ended up in court."

Roman did not call from Olenivka or Donetsk anymore. Olya received scanty news about him from her comrades who were released from captivity. They told different stories: that there were 25 people in a cell for 10, that the prisoners were freezing and starving. But there was also encouraging news — Roman was not beaten, and he seems to be healthy.

"In May this year, I accidentally came across a video of Roman's trial. The trial was on May 24. No lawyer called me, no one warned me about anything. He was accused of attempted murder of a civilian from Mariupol. I watched that video: Roman is exhausted, very tired. But he admitted in court that he really wanted to kill that civilian, who was allegedly discontent that Roman and his partner had taken up a position in a residential building. My sons also saw the video of the trial and cried a lot. And I can't go a day without crying," says Olya.

The sons have not seen their father for a year and a half. To make it a little easier for them, Olya ordered two dolls with their father's face, which were made from Roman's photo. The boys fall asleep every night hugging those dolls tightly. Olya knows that Roman was sentenced to 13 years in prison. It remains unknown where he is today.

"It is unclear what criteria are used by the Russians to determine Ukrainian prisoners for exchange or for trials," says Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Shcherban, an official of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. "Although most often they try our men from Azov and Aidar, snipers and scouts. This is all for information and psychological pressure on our fighters and for the domestic Russian consumer. So are all these staged films of interrogations and investigative experiments. The very process of exchanging prisoners of war is very difficult, and you can never predict whom the Russians will hand over. But there are cases when convicts from both sides are exchanged. Usually, our convicted prisoners remain in the institutions where they were held before the trial. We will definitely return them all, but this issue will not be resolved very quickly. I think that after the war is over, we will have more opportunities to do so."

However, the relatives of the prisoners do not have the strength to wait until "after the war."

"If we remain silent, no one will remember our sons at all," worries the mother of Yevhen Vysotskyi, who was sentenced to 25 years in a maximum security colony.

Author: Maya Orel