Ukrainian prisoner reveals what helped him survive 860 days in Putin's hellish j

Metro

2 days ago

A freed Ukrainian prisoner of war has borne witness to the horrors he and his comrades have been subjected to in the Russian detention system.
Valerii 'Yarylo' Horishnii told Metro they include a massacre at a notorious prison camp where the guards were said to have been 'laughing and drinking coffee' while watching inmates being burnt alive.
The special forces soldier has gathered testimony that includes a jailer at the Olenivka prison allegedly telling prisoners 'you're f**** up today' before an explosion which killed 53 of his comrades and injured 139 others.
Horishnii, who was injured and then captured in the last-stand defence of Mariupol, spoke openly about the 'hell on earth' he experienced during two years and four months in Vladimir Putin's detention system.
He was routinely beaten with fists, kicks and rubber batons, given electric shocks and held in a notorious torture chamber called 'Isolation.'
The Azov Brigade fighter, 28, who was part of a UK delegation which raised the case of Ukrainian prisoners, managed to survive through 'love and prayer', before going into shock for days after his release.
At one point, he was housed in a cell next to Shaun Pinner, who served with the British military before becoming an Azov fighter.
Incredibly, Horishnii has finished his rehabilitation since his release in September and is considering returning to active service.
'I was kept going by love and prayer', he said.
'Love towards my family, country, comrades and regiment.
'There were times when people felt desperate but we always supported each other. I prayed every day for those who were on the outside, for those fighting on the frontline and my family.
'I was scared that I would be released and find some of my family had died from the Russian missiles striking civilian infrastructure every day.
'I asked God to be released as soon as possible.
'I guess he heard my prayers.'
Horishnii was part of a Ukrainian delegation that visited London in March to highlight the fate of his country's prisoners of war, and the need for their urgent exchange.
The Senior Sergeant of the 12th Special Forces Brigade 'Azov' has also shared his testimony with the United Nations, holding up pictures of his mistreated friends.
He is fortunate to still be able to tell his story.
Horishnii narrowly missed death when Ukrainian prisoners of war were held in a facility which was blown up on July 28, 2022.
'My position was on the north of the frontline as we defended Mariupol from the very first day of the full-scale invasion back in February 2022,' he said. 'On March 18, 2022, we were relocated to the city centre after the Russians broke through on the western side.
'There were Russian troops, tanks and artillery running amok.
'The next day we were clearing a house of Russian troops when they fired an RPG at us. Both of my legs, my genitals and my left hand got hit.
'I still have some shrapnel in my body but fortunately it didn't do any permanent damage or hit any arteries.
'I was transported to one of the bunkers at the Azovstal factory where there was a hospital under the ground, and I remained there for the rest of the time I was there.
'On May 16, 2022, we got an order from our president and our commander-in-chief to go into Russian captivity.
'Our wounded were literally rotting and we had no medicine.
'We knew the Russians were lying when they said there would be representatives from the Red Cross and the United Nations present, and we would be tortured, but we had no other option.'
Horishnii and other Ukrainian prisoners were first transferred to a notorious prison in Molodizhne, near Olenivka in Donetsk oblast.
'There was little food there but we were not tortured and we could move around, read books and talk to each other,' he said.
'After I was moved from Olenivka, there was a massacre where 53 Azov prisoners of war were killed and 139 others injured.
'Some of my cellmates who were there at the time told me how one day before this happened they had been moved into a separate barracks specifically for Azov servicemen.
'They saw some people on the roof of the barracks, who were wearing black ski masks and they looked like military engineers, planting something. A few hours later a Russian guard came up to them and said, 'you're f***** up today.'
'The next thing they heard Russian artillery nearby, they think the Russians tried to hide the sound of the explosion with artillery.
'Then there was a very big explosion on the roof and everything started burning right away, possibly because of the presence of oil.
'The Azov servicemen who were still alive were trying to help each other and give each other medical care.
'They remember that some of the Russian guards who had not been told of the massacre in advance were very scared, they were running around looking for their vests and helmets.
'But some who knew what was going to happen were laughing and drinking coffee. The head of the prison was there, drinking coffee and looking at those guys who were burning alive and he was laughing.'
The prison's former head was killed in a blast from an explosive device planted under his car in December 2024, according to Ukrainian media.
Sergei Yevsyukov is said to have died in Donetsk amid a series of attacks on pro-Kremlin figures in occupied territory.
The search for justice continues in one of the war's many grim chapters perpetuated by Putin's forces.
Three years on from the attack, the incident is front of mind in Ukraine after the country's parliament established July 28 as an occasion to remember those tortured or killed in captivity.
'The Russians said it was a Ukrainian HIMARS missile but our investigation points to an explosion on the roof,' Horishnii said of the prison atrocity.
'We have passed our evidence to the British ICRC and to parliamentarians. UN representatives were not allowed to go in and investigate at the time, which I guess the Russians would have been happy to do if it was a Ukrainian missile.'
In remarkably composed terms, the veteran recalled how in captivity the cell became a 'comfortable zone', because at least he knew that once inside he would not be tortured.
'In the other prisons we were beaten, given electric shocks and hit with rubber batons,' he said.
'The beatings continued every day I was in captivity. You have to stay on your feet the whole day, you are not allowed to sit.
'Every day the cell door opened it was very stressful, you would have to run with your head very low and your hands tied behind your back.
'As you did this you would be punched and kicked and they used rubber batons and stun guns.
'As crazy as it sounds, the cell becomes a comfortable zone because when the door closes you know that you would not be tortured.
'For two years we did not see any sun, any sky, we were always in cells located underground.'
Horishnii described the Russian brutality in the detention system.
'In a prison in the city of Makiivka, in the Donetsk region, the treatment was pretty much ok, even though we were not being in accordance with the Geneva Convention as it was a regular prison not intended specifically for prisoners of war,' he said.
'But all the other places were like hell on earth.
'I was in six places in total and you couldn't even call one a prison, it was a former youth hub for arts in Donetsk that the Russians had turned into a torture chamber called 'Isolation'.'
A detailed analysis of the Olenivka massacre was published in June by the Centre for Human Rights in Armed Conflict.
The Russian Federation planned and carried out the attack using artillery, and orchestrated the carnage to make it appear that the Ukrainian service members had been killed by Western weapons, the centre found.
The findings have been submitted to the International Criminal Court, which is expected to begin formal proceedings, according to Azov.
For Horishnii, the war continues, even after surviving Russian captivity.
'For the first four or five days after being released I was like a robot, I couldn't feel any emotion, I was just in shock,' he said.
'Then on the seventh day I started realising I did not have to comply with any orders such as singing the Russian anthem every day, I was a free person, a free human being.
'I cannot put into words how I felt when I saw my sister and parents, other than to say I was super happy.
'At least a hundred and fifty people have died in those torture chambers, and these are only the official figures so there will be many more, and the Azov prisoners of war are rotting.
'My legs were literally rotting because there was no nutritious food, regular beatings and no medical care.
'The International Red Cross and the UN cannot reach our prisoners because Russia does not allow it.
'If Russia is allowed to escape justice for its war crimes and treatment of prisoners then in my opinion it shows the international laws do not work.'
Thousands of Ukrainians are currently being held in captivity in Russia and occupied Ukraine, facing torture, enforced disappearance and denied contact with the outside world, according to Amnesty International.
The treatment amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the campaign group said in a report published earlier in the year.
'As for me, I have gone through the rehabilitation process and under the Geneva Conventions and laws of Ukraine, I could just retire with an ideal scenario like living in the mountains, having some children and playing a guitar by the lake,' Horishnii said.
'But the war is still going on and it is hard for me to just leave.
'I had more than 100 friends killed in Mariupol and I can't just leave our struggle, so I'm thinking about going to go back to active duty, continuing my service as a reconnaissance scout and instructor.'
The soldier added: 'Our trip to the UK has given us a lot of encouragement. More Trending
'I would like to thank the UK government and citizens for helping us, your support is priceless.'
The UK is part of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, which is being established to hold the perpetrators of war crimes to account in Ukrainian courts.
On a visit to Lviv in May, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said setting up such a body was a 'key manifesto commitment' in the interests of 'accountability and justice.'
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