Torture and survival: Ukrainian soldier's harrowing ordeal
The Russians captured Oleksandr Hrytsiuk from Kivertsi in Volyn in April 2022. In January 2024, his family was informed that his body had returned from captivity. "The head was entirely blue, the nose was to the side, and the index fingers had no nails. There were signs of torture all over the body," says Hrytsiuk's wife. The soldier "did not want to speak Russian."
Oleksandr was a powerful man. He weighed 110 kilograms and was in good physical condition. He was 180 centimetres tall. When his body returned from Russian captivity, he weighed only 50 kilograms. The Russians tortured him for several months.
"Because he did not want to speak Russian"
The head was entirely blue, the nose to the side, and the index fingers had no nails. There were signs of torture all over the body, said the despondent wife of Oleksandr, who had to identify the body of her beloved husband.
Fellow prisoners of the tortured soldier later told the woman that the Russians continuously beat Hrytsiuk, "either in the cell or taking him outside, because he did not want to speak Russian."
It was from Russian websites that Hrytsiuk's wife learned that he was in captivity. On April 10, 2022, along with a group of soldiers, Oleksandr was captured near Novobakhmutivka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The wife received only one message from Oleksandr, which was allegedly written by him in Russian.
"Hello, my wife. I am in captivity in the Russian Federation. I was wounded. They feed, clothe, and provide all necessary medical assistance. I am waiting for an exchange and a quick return home."
At the beginning of January 2024, Oleksandr's wife received information from another prisoner that her husband had been molested.
"On January 24, a Kyiv investigator called me and said there was an exchange of bodies in December 2023, and they had my husband's body," she admitted.
Prisoner exchange. Among the released were civilians
The last prisoner exchange between Kyiv and Moscow took place on June 26. At that time, it occurred for the first time with the participation of representatives of the Russian Ombudsman’s office, the Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported on Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky informed on Tuesday evening on Telegram that another prisoner exchange with the Russian Federation carried out through the United Arab Emirates, led to the return of 90 citizens to their homeland.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Zelensky informed that among those exchanged were also ten civilians.
"We have managed to free 10 more of our people from Russian captivity, despite all the difficulties," Zelensky wrote. He thanked everyone involved in this exchange, including representatives of the Vatican.
Among the released is Nariman Dzhelylal, the deputy head of the Crimean Tatar assembly (Mejlis), who was captured by the Russians in 2021, seven years after Russia annexed Crimea, and two Greek Catholic priests.
As reported by Reuters, citing Ukrainian media, five of the released civilians were held in Belarus, Russia's closest ally, which allowed Moscow to use its territory to attack Ukraine in 2022.
According to Ukrainian authorities, the release of civilians was part of the latest prisoner exchange; both sides handed over 90 people to the other. Reuters notes that Russia did not mention this exchange.
