A released fighter plane told the BBC that Ukrainian fighters, who surrendered after several weeks under the Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol, were kept in inhumane conditions by Russia.
Lieutenant Ilya Samoilenko told the BBC he had been held in solitary confinement in Russia for 120 days and feared he would never return to Ukraine.
He said the Russian army confiscated his prosthetic hand after its capture.
The fighter of the Azov regiment was released last month in a prisoner swap.
Lieutenant Samoilenko, who is 28, lost his right eye and left hand in 2018 after ammunition exploded in his arm while on a Ukrainian military mission against Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Donbass region.
He said the first thing he bought upon his return to Ukraine was a pack of cigarettes, "to feel alive," he said.
"I am glad to see the people who are waiting for me, and the tears of joy and their smiles on their faces."
In the first international media interview by an Azov fighter since being released last month in a major, and surprising, prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, he claimed that some of his fellow fighters were held apart and were Was denied adequate medical treatment and food.
"Clear things" happened, Lieutenant Samoilenko told me in Kyiv, where he was recovering after being freed. "Obviously those caught are tortured by the Russians".
Russia has denied torturing or abusing prisoners of war, although Ukrainian officials say fighters in Russian captivity have faced abuse.
Ukrainian fighters hid in steelworks in Mariupol for several weeks
Lieutenant Samoilenko was among hundreds of soldiers who were besieged by the Russian army under constant bombardment in the underground tunnels and bunkers of the vast Azovstal steelworks.
He refused to surrender until an order came from Ukraine's top military commanders, which ended the battle for Mariupol, the deadliest and most destructive port city ever fought in this war.
The fighters left town with some personal belongings, exhausted and with visible wounds. Some were walking on crutches. They were taken in buses to Russian-controlled territory.
Lieutenant Samoilenko said they were first taken in buses to Olenivka, a prison in an area of Donetsk controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
A few days later, he and other, mostly Azov leaders, were transferred to an undisclosed location in Russia. He says he was kept alone in a cell, he remembers, where he did push-ups and sit-ups and kept track of time by mentally counting the days.
"[But] I was not physically abused," he said, "so it was a far cry from the things that people had to suffer in other places".
Those who were deported to other places, he alleged, faced "very, very bad" conditions that got worse "with each new week".
Some of those released last month told them they had been given limited amounts of water, and some were malnourished.
Weary Ukrainian fighters taken by bus to Olenivka prison after surrender
In July, an explosion in Olenivka killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners. Russia said the site was attacked by Ukraine, an allegation that the Ukrainian government dismissed as blasphemous, accusing Russia of torture and trying to destroy evidence of the murder.
Russia, Lieutenant Samoilenko said, ignored the rules of war. "He didn't care about Geneva [conventions]. He didn't care about people's lives." However, he said that he cannot share further details yet.
"The Russians are also watching these interviews," he said. "When they see our happy faces, they go crazy."
A few days before Azovstal's surrender in May, Lieutenant Samoilenko led a news conference, which was broadcast live from a bunker under the steel works. For nearly two hours, he described the hopeless conditions for the wounded fighters, and said that he and everyone else saw themselves as "dead men".
In Russia, the Azov Regiment, to which it belongs, is condemned by many as a militia with far-right links due to its early roots, and its use in Russian propaganda to subvert President Vladimir Putin's unfounded claim. Used to justify that he is "de-nazifying" Ukraine. After their capture, some Russians defended harsh prison sentences for Azov fighters; Others called for his execution.
But in Ukraine, fighters are symbols of resistance against Russian aggression, and are celebrated on billboards. "I personally don't think I'm a hero," Lieutenant Samoilenko told me.
No comments:
Post a Comment