Source: https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/polon-vagner-bakhmut/32370573.html

Based on the story about his captivity told to Donbas.Realiya (a project of Radio Liberty) by Oleksandr Koval.

 

 

Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Koval was held captive for 40 days by the Wagnerites. They were the savage soldiers, often convicted criminals, of Evgeny Prigozhin’s so called Wagner Group, a notorious Russian state funded “private army”. In the premises of a former shoe factory in Donbas, he and about a hundred prisoners of war, were kept in cramped and damp cells, without drinking water and with minimal food – a single dry ration had to be divided into three. The prisoners were beaten and tortured every day in an effort to break them not only physically but morally. Their captors were also trying to persuade the POWs to go over to the side of Russia and join the Russian Army. And all that time there was no communication allowed with the prisoners’ families and relatives, who would be completely in the dark as to their whereabouts and their fate.

 

Oleksandr Koval was 47 when Russia attacked Ukraine on 24th of February 2022. He had plenty of excuses not to go to the front: chronic illnesses as well as his age and lack of combat experience. He had only served for a year in the Navy in the early 1990s, as a conscript on the cruiser "Ukraine" in Mykolaiv ". Despite this he did not hide from the war.

 

The morning of 24th of February 2024 is clearly etched into Oleksandr’s memory. He was on the night shift at his work as a metal process specialist at a factory in Zaporizhzhia. He did not hear any explosions. But the news caught up with him: "War". The enterprise was stopped. Oleksandr decided to stay in his hometown and help with the arrangement of checkpoints.

 

In August 2024 Oleksandr received a summons. In those days the military enlistment office paid attention to the age of the recruits. Those who were over 45 and those with many children could be discharged. At first, Oleksandr left the recruitment office but then returned and asked for permission to serve. He was motivated. Ukraine was his motherland. Who will defend Ukraine? Someone needed to go and fight.

 

Oleksandr ended up in the 58th Motorised Infantry Brigade. He had only a few weeks of training in the rear and in September 2022 he and his unit were sent to Opytne in the Donetsk region to the south of Bakhmut.

 

He managed to survive his first battle with minor injuries and contusions and was even able to carry out a seriously wounded comrade-in-arms. That battle was on 18th of September 2022. He was one of seven soldiers in a reconnaissance group sent behind the front line into the Russian rear. It was a village of holiday cottages, the houses in a row along a field. The group had settled in one of the houses when they heard over the radio, "Get ready for a circular defence! ". The enemy was approaching. For the first time in his life Oleksandr was shooting from a machine gun not at targets but at real enemies only thirty metres away. The Russians showered them with grenades. It was a real miracle that Oleksandr managed to escape carrying the wounded soldier. Five of his friends remained there for ever.

 

On the night of October 31st to November 1st Oleksandr’s unit was already in another hot spot near Bakhmut. The Russians were shelling the Ukrainian military positions around the clock. Oleksandr’s group had to replace the soldiers who were fighting there. They had to walk 1,400 metres to the exchange position under constant shelling, although the position had been thought to be "quiet". But that very day the Wagnerites went on the attack. The shelling continued the whole day, both mortars and tanks. It was getting dark and the sun was setting. The Wagnerites went on the attack but Oleksandr’s unit fought back. Then during the whole night the Wagnerites covered the area with mines until morning. And then on 2nd of November they launched their drones on Oleksandr’s position. It was reported on the radio transmitter that the enemy was noticed in the trees of a small copse. In reality they were already behind the Ukrainian unit and practically surrounded them. To escape, the Ukrainians could have tried to go through a sunflower field but it had been mined. The Wagnerites came at them with RPGs and with submachine guns. There were lots of them, "cannon fodder". Oleksandr could hear hysterical laughter and screams, the screams of convicts, of a criminal prison camp. And then he stepped on a landmine. The last thing Oleksandr remembered was an orange explosion and a strong blow to his chest as the ceramic plate of his bulletproof vest broke causing excruciating pain. He was thrown back and passed out. Oleksandr was unconscious for 20 minutes and then he heard, "Maliuk" (Little One). Boroda (Beard) are you alive?" Oleksandr was in shock. He wished he had not come to his senses.

 

Oleksandr was dragged to another place in the trench by his fellow soldier. There, exhausted by his injuries and several days of sleeplessness, he passed out. When he came to his senses the Wagner soldiers were already in the trench. 

 

Oleksandr was blindfolded, beaten and taken to the Russian command post. Oleksandr was lucky that the Wagnerites had now been ordered to take the prisoners of war of any rank because the Russians needed POWs. Before that only officers were taken prisoners and they would finish off everyone else, even those who were not wounded and could walk.

 

The Wagnerites took Oleksandr’s mobile phone and his documents and removed his bulletproof vest and his helmet. Oleksandr was very weak and could not walk so they dragged him two-thirds of the way then they put him into a truck and drove him to a rural area. There the Wagnerites soldiers "packed" him with tape. They called that kind of torture "Eurodelivery" –arms tied down and the torso wrapped like a cocoon with tape for packing large goods. Only the legs were left free. The pain was unbearable and then everything went numb. Oleksandr thought that he would lose his arms. They tortured him physically and psychologically, showing him the severed heads of Ukrainian soldiers (so they said). They threatened to shoot Oleksandr and staged mock executions. Then they brought Oleksandr to some village and lowered him into a cellar containing a pile of construction debris. And then they showed him the freshly severed heads of two Ukrainian soldiers mounted on steel bars. One of the Wagnerites said, "Meet your fellow soldiers. This is Edik and this is Valera. They insisted everything should be according to the Geneva Convention. Do you also want everything to be according to the Geneva Convention? There is room for a third one”. Then he described what he had done to the prisoners, how he had torn off their heads. He was a real sadist, a maniac. Oleksandr said goodbye to his life. He was no longer afraid of anything. In his mind he saw a picture of his late grandmother with his little brother, the sun, warmth and himself as a little boy.

 

After that Oleksandr was transported to the occupied settlement of Pervomayske (Ukrainian Avdiivske) where he was kept with about a hundred POWs on the premises of a former shoe factory. At first there were 20 people in a damp cell measuring 8 by 8 metres and later more than 30. The POWs slept on wooden pallets using pieces of leatherette as blankets. They gave their prisoners one Russian dry ration to share between three people. The ration contained one can of rotten meat, one can of buckwheat, and one can of peas. No biscuits, no sugar and no tea as they had been removed from the dry ration packet. There was no drinking water. During the first week of their captivity the POWs had given a one and a half litre jug of water for two. But after that their only water came from the fire prevention reservoir.

 

It was winter and very cold. The prisoners were in their thermal underwear and Oleksandr had an old woman’s coat from the 1960s. Instead of a toilet there was a jug. Every morning a "working group" would come to take it out. They took some of the prisoners into the "working groups" where conditions were slightly better: one dry Russian ration between two and more access to cigarettes. The prisoners were constantly beaten to break them physically and psychologically. The Russians were constantly trying to persuade our imprisoned soldiers to switch to the Russian side. Several Ukrainian soldiers were shot. Medical care was unorthodox – there was an officer with the call sign "Doc" who tortured patients and then treated their wounds. One of the prisoners was in great pain with kidney stones and the other prisoners asked the guard to bring the doctor. Three days late "Doc" came and gave him a No-Spa tablet for pain relief. That was all the treatment.

 

"Doc" interrogated Oleksandr asking him about "interesting" things Oleksandr might know: where was the Ukrainian artillery, where were the Ukrainian tanks, where was the Ukrainian headquarters. He beat Oleksandr every day, even several times a day. Another thing the Russians asked was "Who wants to serve in the Russian Army? We will shoot everyone who does not want to." The POWs answered: “No, we are prisoners. We are already out of it." There were executions. The Russians would bring a prisoner from the Ukrainian Special Operation Forces to the cell to allow him to say goodbye to his cellmates. An hour later they would come back and ask, " Well, have you said goodbye? Now let’s go. We will zero you out." To zero out meant to shoot dead.

 

Oleksandr survived Russian captivity because he had a good friend with him and they supported each other. Oleksandr also hoped to see his family. All the prisoners lived in hope of an exchange. But the longer one stayed in the captivity the more difficult it was to hold on. Something would happen to your psyche. One major who was in Russian captivity for five months fell into a stupor. He would lie down and cover his head saying, " Guys, I am done. The only thing I think about is food. From the time I wake up till the time I go to bed”. To talk about food in the cell was taboo.

 

All the time Oleksandr was in Russian captivity his family did not know anything about his whereabouts. His parents were told that he had died.

 

Oleksandr was exchanged on 14th of December 2022 together with 63 other POWs. When he phoned home it was so emotional! He did not tell his elderly parents what he had gone through in Russian captivity. He spoke first to his mother and he did not want to shock her so he spared his parents’ feelings.

 

Oleksandr was given a rehabilitation programme. He learned to switch off his emotions and needed regular sessions with a psychologist. Because of his starvation in Russian captivity Oleksandr decided to change his profession and to become a confectioner.