Ukrainian POWs returned to Ukraine

So far, several cases of exchange of prisoners of war (POW) between Russia and Ukraine have been confirmed.

On April 1, a prisoner exchange took place in the Zaporozhye region. Ukraine received 86 soldiers, including 15 women. The Russian side also reportedly received 86 servicemen, but the number was not confirmed.

Photos of the Ukrainian military who returned for the POWs exchange were immediately shared by the Ukrainian military. Judging by the footage, everyone is safe, healthy and well-fed.

In turn, the Russian side did not share photographs of Russian prisoners. This fact raised suspicions that Russian servicemen had been tortured.

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On March 23, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed 2 other exchanges of POWs. However, it was not clarified what exact cases were confirmed.

Earlier, it was revealed that the mayor of Melitopol was changed to 9 Russian servicemen. Another exchange of 1 Russian soldier for 5 members of the so-called territorial defence was reported in the Sumy region.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported that the Kiev authorities had been disrupting exchanges of prisoners of war.

On April 6, another planned exchange of prisoners was disrupted by the Ukrainian side.

The Russian MoD reported: “The list of 251 servicemen declared for exchange was repeatedly clarified during the day, the number of prisoners of war was repeatedly reduced, the list agreed at the last stage in the amount of only 38 servicemen, this morning, by the Ukrainian side was also rejected without explanation.

At the same time, on the part of the Russian Federation, all of 251 Ukrainian prisoners of war were delivered to the initially agreed area.”

Taking into account the above, the Russian side has every reason to believe that there is something wrong with the servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces who are in captivity, the Russian MoD added.

On the same day, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation claimed that she had a list of Russian officers from the Crimea who, while being held captive in Ukraine, are allegedly not subject to exchange and can be executed. It was clarified that Russia would check this information and requests would be made to the Ukrainian side and international bodies.

Numerous cases of execution and torture of Russian POWs by Ukrainian servicemen had been confirmed. Some of them were confirmed by the footage shared by the Ukrainian Nazis. Following such cases, Kiev authorities prohibited to “share videos of murders of Russian POWs online”, but not to commit war crimes.

The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation claimed that Ukraine had officially informed its Western allies that it does not intend to comply with the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Such a policy of the Kiev regime, as well as new footage of tortures shared online, confirm the inability of Kiev authorities to control nationalist forces in the AFU, as well as numerous foreign mercenaries and thugs who came to fight in Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation shared testimonies of Russian servicemen released from captivity in Ukraine, who confirm murders and violation by the Kiev regime of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

“They put us up against a brick wall and there were a lot of people with guns, and everyone offered to do something to us: shoot us in the legs, just kill us. They were just chatting among themselves at this point and offering their ideas. There was only one person who said we shouldn’t, because prisoners were needed for something. Since there were comrades who had their legs shot and couldn’t move fast, they were dragged, either pushed forward or beaten in order to get them to walk. We were kept in some kind of gymnasium, sleeping on the floor. It was cold at night. Constantly, when a shell came, we could hear the doors opening and the Ukrainian military beating the pilots. Two pilots were kept with us and they were constantly beaten, not allowed to sleep. At various times at night you could hear the phrase: “Pilots, are you sleeping?” and then they made them answer: “We are not sleeping: we are watching the sky. The military constantly mocked the pilots and said: “If pilots come back to Russia, they will only be invalids.”

The six of us were seen. My comrade was asked, “Where is the sixth man? He showed him standing on his knees. After that, the Ukrainian soldier fired a burst into the surrendered man. We were all already lying face down on the ground when they started taking us one by one to a car that pulled up. During this, one person’s nose was broken. They wanted to finish us wounded. One of the soldiers was shouting that he was ready to shoot us, so they wouldn’t have to deal with us in the future.

I was face down on the ground and they tied my hands with duct tape. When they lifted me up, they asked where I was wounded. I said my left hip. Then one of the Ukrainians kicked me there. I apparently cried out in pain. I was told to be patient. They dragged me. At this time my shoes were coming off my feet. I did not manage to sleep, as I felt badly. For two days I did not eat at all. They took us every day and made us record a video of their text. If anyone failed they were beaten, as was I, because due to a head wound I had memory problems. I couldn’t remember all the text to tell it. The first day we were in the gym, one person was brought there. The doctor who examined me said he wouldn’t live till morning. This man was beaten to death all night long. The impression was that you were lying there, a bandage over your eyes, and you could hear screams all around you. Soon they subsided and in the morning we were told we were sleeping with a corpse. It felt as if he had been beaten with sticks, because the sound of the blows was deafening.

Then we were transported in motorcars to the detention center of the Security Service. On arrival, I was beaten up very badly. I couldn’t sleep or breathe properly for three days. They took us to the floor, we had our hands behind our backs and bandages over our eyes. As soon as I started to enter the room I was immediately hit on the head. Because of the head injury I immediately lost consciousness. They started breaking my hands and fingers. They threatened to break my arms. I tried to get up, but they hit me on the head again. And everything repeats. They hit me with legs and hands. They also hit me in the stomach. Since there was nothing to eat, it was hard to bear the fact that all my organs were beaten off.

There were pilots there. I was lying next to one of them. As soon as a shell came in, some man came up and started beating him. They kicked him and beat him with their hands. The pilots were the only ones in the hall who were handcuffed, because when he turned over, you could hear the sound of iron. They were mocked very badly: they were not allowed to sleep, they were fed much less often, and they were not given water.

Before they took us to the Red Cross, we were instructed to say that the food in captivity was excellent, water was provided, conditions were excellent, and the wounded were cared for.

When we were lying in the gym, an officer, a major, was being beaten there. He was beaten for two days. On the third day they took him to the basement. Then the Ukrainians said that he died of blood loss.
The artillerymen were brutally beaten. When I was in the gym, they brought three people, one of them was an artilleryman. They beat him up very badly. The scouts were also beaten up.

Then we were sitting in the basement for 6-7 hours with our eyes closed. Then they made the first video of us being interrogated. All this was happening with the use of weapons. They were putting guns to our heads. Then they took us from there to the military police. We lived in the barracks, we were interrogated. When we did not give answers to questions, we were beaten.