This story will let you know what is really happening to the Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian captivity. You will understand that the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war is completely ignored by the Russians.

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When the full-scale Russian invasion broke out on 24th of February 2022, Olexiy Anulya went to the recruitment office and volunteered to go to the front. His father was a retired serviceman and together with two of his former fellow servicemen also went to the recruitment office. One of them used to be a pilot and the other had been a submariner. Olexiy had asked his father to stay at home and help his family to get evacuated when this became possible but his father wanted to fight to protect his country. Later his father was taken prisoner together with another five or six soldiers who had been wounded. They were captured near a farm in the village of Lukashivka. Practically all the major Ukrainian forces were there – the 58th brigade, the 16th battalion and the 21st battalion with new recruits. Olexiy’s father was trying to give first aid to wounded Ukrainian soldiers. He was tortured to death by the Russians in a torture chamber and his burnt body was found later.

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Olexiy Anulya, a machine gunner in the reconnaissance platoon of the 21st rifle battalion, had his last battle before Russian captivity in village of Lukashivka, Chernihiv region. It was there that his comrades-in-arms, his sworn brothers Artem Sheremet, the second machine gunner in their reconnaissance unit, and Yuriy Vorona were killed. It was also there that Olexiy hid his machine gun and the chevron of his fallen friend Artem.

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Olexiy Anulya took part in the battles for the village of Lukashivka at the end of February and at the beginning of March of 2022. The Russians managed to enter the village where Olexiy and his nine comrades-in-arms were fighting and only Olexiy survived, though he was wounded.

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Olexiy’s unit had a different location from the other Ukrainian forces as they were in reconnaissance. The soldiers from the unit were exhausted as they had not slept for a long time. They desperately needed some rest. They found a forsaken house and decided to use it. Two women who were not from that village came to the house and asked if they needed anything. They also brought some borsch with them. But the soldiers did not have the chance to taste it for as soon as the women left the Russians started shelling their location mercilessly. It was obvious the Russians were targeting their position. There were civilians who would give away the Ukrainian soldiers but there were also those who would hide them, give them food and shovels to dig trenches.  Olexiy and his friend Yuriy were still very sleepy. The next thing Olexiy saw was a long, long white shell coming through the window. Yuriy and Olexiy jumped out of their sleeping bags. Olexiy managed to jump out of the house and he fell instantly and started crawling towards Artem Sheremet. Artem had already been fatally wounded into his neck.  Olexiy started to press on Artem’s neck trying to stop the bleeding. Then the next shell arrived. Olexiy was pressed into the ground. He was wounded and concussed. A bone was sticking out from his right cheek and the upper part of his tooth was missing.  His helmet was torn in the middle.  There were 49 fragments of the shell in the right side of his head, eight pieces of shell in his jaw and four in his arm. He had tinnitus in his left ear and his right ear was bleeding. Olexiy turned to Artem. Artem had no head, only his body was left. Still Olexiy tried to feel his pulse to make sure his friend was not alive. There was no pulse at all.

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Then Olexiy saw his friend Yuriy. He was sitting motionless on the steps of the house where they had been sleeping. Yuriy’s head was bent down. Olexiy started crawling to Yuriy calling to him. There was no blood around Yuriy. Olexiy could not understand how Yuriy could have died. Yuriy’s eyes were glassy. Although Olexiy reported to his commander that Yuriy was killed but to this day he still believes in a miracle and that somehow it was a different person with the glassy eyes, not Yuriy. 

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So Olexiy was the only person out of ten in his unit who survived. He decided to fight as there were eight boxes with ammunition for the machine guns. So when he saw the first MT-LB multi-purpose armoured vehicle probably 400 meters away, he started firing at it. Obviously Olexiy had had a shock so it was a sort of “Come what may” strategy. The first MT-LB passed by but Olexiy managed to destroy the second one. He shot a full clip, emptying his Mossberg rifle. However, there were still seven boxes of ammunition left. But he didn’t have the strength or the time even to reload his machine gun. It was then that Olexiy realised that the Russian tanks were coming closer and closer. His first thought was "What can I do next?"

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There was no point in waiting for them to come after him. Olexiy started running.  He jumped over the fence and hid himself in the high grass. From his hiding place on the outskirts of the village Olexiy could see the Russian tanks entering the village and firing at the houses. The Russian infantry was firing at the wounded Ukrainian soldiers. Olexiy understood that the Russians did not take any prisoners. They were killing everyone, killing everyone and finishing off the wounded soldiers. It was a Russian clean-up operation. Olexiy could hear bursts of fire from their machine guns.  They were searching for Ukrainian servicemen everywhere. One tank was driving right in the direction where Olexiy was hiding. Its barrel was aiming at him. At that moment Olexiy believed it would be his end. This was how his life would end.  Olexiy put his machine gun under his body with its barrel at his chin. He made up his mind to press the trigger when the Russians came close to him or just stepped on him. He was ready to shoot himself.    

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All he needed was just to lie down and spend some time in silence to build up his strength. He actually lay there for 12 hours as luckily the enemy did not find him. After 12 hours Olexiy began to crawl out from his hiding place. He understood that the Russians would have their checkpoints all over the village. Then he decided to hide his documents, his machine gun, his chevron with the Ukrainian flag and the ATO participant medal that belonged to his friend Artem Sheremet who had been killed earlier. Olexiy knocked at the door of one house but there was no answer for a long time. Olexiy went on knocking and knocking. At first the woman who opened the door did not want to let him in. There was a curfew in the village. Besides she did not recognise Olexiy. She had been helping the Ukrainian soldiers when they were fighting and she did not believe that he was still alive. But when Olexiy gave her some facts that only she would know, she let him in. It was an extremely brave deed as she had her daughter with a baby, her son-in-law and a grandfather in the house. The family fed Olexiy and gave him mittens. Olexiy left their house at night and crawled to the hamlet where his godfather lived. He reached it and hid himself in the tip near the cemetery under paint tins and mineral wool. He fell asleep for forty minutes. When he woke up it was eight o’clock in the morning. He began to run out of the village and saw the wrecked tanks and armoured vehicles. Unfortunately, when he left his hiding place the Russians noticed him so Olexiy started running in the opposite direction but there were Russians there as well. They were encircling him so he raised his hands and started walking towards them. A very short Buryat came forward. All the rest, carrying machine guns and ready to shoot, made a circle round Olexiy.

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How Olexiy was captured by the Russians

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 ‘Who are you?”

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 ‘I am a local citizen.”

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‘Are you crazy? Why are you wearing Ukrainian uniform?’

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"Really? It doesn't look like a uniform at all. We always wear overalls in the village.”

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“Are you a fool?”

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Then they took off his hood and saw his wound on the right side of his head. So they took one step back and the Buryat aimed his machine gun at Olexiy.

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“You are a Ukrop [a derogatory Russian slang term to refer to Ukrainian soldiers]. We were fighting you all night. Where have you crawled out from?”

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The soldier who was standing behind Olexiy struck him on the head with the butt of his gun. Olexiy fell on his knees while they started hitting him with their guns and kicking him with their feet. Their aim was to rob him. There was not a word about taking him prisoner.  They started taking Olexiy’s knife, his mobile phone and multitool, and when they stared taking his tactical load-bearing belt which had “Pentagon” written on it they said: “You are an American mercenary. Where did you learn to speak Russian without an accent?”

Then they made a loop with this belt and dragged Olexiy to a house across the road which Olexiy recognized as the house of his godfather where he had planned to hide. But now Russian military equipment was stationed in the yard of his godfather’s house. Olexiy was sure that they were going to execute him. Olexiy who did not believe in God started praying for the first time in his life asking God to save him. Olexiy was very weak and he had pain all over his body. It seemed that there was no strength left in him. His wounds ached. Olexiy was ready to die. He asked his assailants to let him call his wife to say goodbye. But at that moment the Russian commander of that unit came to them and asked, “Who do we have here?” They answered: “Comrade commander. Honestly, we were finishing off Ukrops all night and we thought we’d got them all, but we don’t know where this one has crawled out from.”

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At that moment Olexiy was standing blindfolded with hands tied behind him ready to be executed. But the commander said: “Hold on for a minute. I will call the General and ask him what to do with this one.”  So the soldiers threw him into a MT-LB and the thought passed through Olexiy’s mind that “It’s only the beginning…..”

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That was how he became a prisoner of war. Olexiy was in Russian captivity from 10th of March to 31st of December 2022. He spent 10 months in Russian captivity. First in Chernihiv region for six days, and then he was taken to Russia. There were two other POWs with Olexiy. In half an hour the Russians shot the Ukrainian officer. The other one was a warrant officer on a contract. He was 45 or even 50 years old. And he was also shot by the Russians. The Russians found Olexiy’s ATO medal, they put it on his forehead and started kicking him. Then they took off Olexiy’s chevron and said, “You love Ukraine, don’t you. So eat this chevron.” Olexiy can’t say how long he was trying to eat the chevron. His torturers were watching him closely. Olexiy could not chew the chevron no matter how hard he tried. From time to time they would order him to open his mouth to check. Olexiy did not have the chance to hide it somewhere as his hands were tied up behind him. Olexiy’s mouth was dry, blood was dripping from it and yet he could not chew the chevron.  But worse was yet to come.

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An attempt to rape Olexiy

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“Now you will be punished for bombing Donbas”

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They put Olexiy on the floor with his face down. The Russian stood at Olexiy’s head not allowing him to move. Blood was coming from Olexiy’s wound. They took off his trousers and tried to rape him.

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“Did you wash your ass?”

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Olexiy tried to reason with them but to no avail.

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“No. How could I do that? I was in the field. I went to the toilet in the field. I wiped my butt with a leaf.” Olexiy tried his best to describe all the details so the rapist would feel disgusted and nauseated. But when the Russian took off his trousers completely and sat on Olexiy’s calves with his knees taking Olexiy’s bottom in his hands, Olexiy realized that it was not a joke. Olexiy started to wriggle out to break himself free. But the Russian who was at Olexiy’s head was not allowing him to escape from the rapist. Olexiy had another try at reasoning with him.

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“You are against gay parades in Russia. You are against Europe.”

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But the answer was: “I don’t care about that, I don’t care about Putin. All I want is to have sex.”

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But at that moment gunfire started. The shells were landing somewhere near their torture place. The Russians pulled Olexiy away and decided to find someone more handsome. And actually the next day they were raping someone and Olexiy could hear it through the wall.

In the morning Olexiy started crying out that he needed to go to the toilet to pee. Everything was burning inside him. But his guard started walking around Olexiy kicking him and then said: “Do your business where you are.” Olexiy said that he could not do that. Olexiy psychologically could not relax. His brain could not give him the command to wet his pants. And only much later, probably in the afternoon since Olexiy could see light through the tape that covered his eyes, Olexiy was aware  he had wet his pants because he felt warmth under him. Then his torturers came back mocking him: “Did you wet your pants?”  So as a punishment they took an extension cord with an orange triple plug and tied up Olexiy’s hands behind his back with it and as there was a hook on the wall they hung Olexiy by his tied hands on that hook. Olexiy was hanging like this for 24 hours and then another half a day till the evening. Then Olexiy started screaming that he needed to pee.  His hands were swollen like boxing gloves and he could not stand it any longer. A Russian soldier came to Olexiy and put him down. The soldier himself was surprised that someone would invent this kind of torture.

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“Who did this to you?’

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“I don’t know. Perhaps it was you. I had my eyes covered.”

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“Oh, no. It was not me. Perhaps those scumbags from Omsk.”

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Then Olexiy understood that the soldiers in striped vests were paratroopers from Omsk.

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Kursk camp

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After that Olexiy was brought to the Kursk camp, a disciplinary battalion in the Kursk region. He spent 12 days there. There were six Ukrainian soldiers transported with Olexiy.

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Bryansk tent camp

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Then they were moved to Bryansk. Luckily for Olexiy there was a Russian man called Sergiy who recognized Olexiy for his sports success. When Sergiy was taking Olexiy to the toilet he said: “I care about your life.”

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And it was Sergiy who helped and supported Olexiy in his Russian captivity. Actually Sergiy made arrangements for Olexiy to be taken to the tents. He said: “It will be difficult but you will survive.” It was also Sergiy who gave Olexiy his checkered underpants. Then the head of the guard, nicknamed Ratnik, who was extremely cruel and a racist, said: “Look at this one. He is very dangerous. He took these underpants from a Russian soldier. He will be under my personal control.” It was that Ratnik who made Olexiy kneel outside the tent in the snow and he who ordered two of Olexiy’s teeth be pulled out. This was because Olexiy had killed the Russian soldiers.

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How Olexiy had his two teeth pulled out

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The prisoners had one minute to eat their meals. Olexiy could not eat that fast as he had a jaw injury and was in pain. So he hid a piece of bread for himself and for a helicopter pilot, who had a broken spine and naturally could not walk outside the tent to take his meals. When they were leaving the canteen, Olexiy was still chewing and a guard saw him chewing.  He grabbed Olexiy by his collar and took him to their checkpoint. Olexiy knew that if they found the bread it would mean severe punishment for the whole tent. The Russians would beat them to death. So Olexiy started chewing the hidden bread hurriedly.  

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Olexiy was brought to another tent somewhere in the field. He was ordered to kneel. And then two guards who were eating sunflower seeds started to spit out the sunflower husk on Olexiy. Olexiy was unshaven and with a beard. At that moment the dentist came out from a tent and said:  “Where have you been? I have been waiting for you for an hour and a half.”

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The Russians brought Olexiy into the tent and he was ordered to get undressed. So Olexiy was completely naked when he was led into the medical room. The dentist asked: “How can I help you? What needs to be treated?” “Nothing, he doesn’t need any treatment,” said the Russian. "Just pull out two chewing teeth.” The dentist said:  “I can’t do that. I swore the Hippocratic oath.” At the corner of his eye Olexiy could see the reaction of the nurse. She was shaking. Perhaps there was something human left in them.

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"Do you feel sorry for him?” asked one of the guards.  The dentist said: “Should I inject lidocaine?” “What for?” the guard asked. “He will be shaking all over after it.” And that was it.  

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So the dentist switched on his head lamp and focused the light on Olexiy who was lying trembling with cold and anticipation of what was going to happen. Olexiy was ordered to close his eyes. The dentist pulled out one tooth next to the canine and the wisdom tooth. And he broke off a bone in Olexiy’s jaw. He also added: “Why don’t you brush your teeth? You are wounded so you need to keep up the hygiene.” Then the dentist switched off the headlight and asked: “Do you understand where you are?"  Olexiy answered: “I am in captivity.” And the dentist said: “Forgive me.”

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Actually Olexiy did not hold a grudge against the dentist. He had done his best to minimise Olexiy’s suffering. Though at that moment it was like hell. His mouth was full of blood.

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The dentist showed the teeth to the guards asking if it was enough. The guard continued to smoke and said: “OK, that will do."

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Kursk SIZO (pre-trial detention centre)

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Then later Olexiy was transported to Kursk. It was Kursk SIZO number 1. Olexiy stayed there for forty days.

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The “Priyomka” (routine of inspection and admittance) took seven hours. The SIZO was a real hell. Olexiy was beaten up so mercilessly that all his body was blue and violet. They broke his nose and hit his right eye badly. Because of the haematomas he could not go to the toilet. When the Russians took them to the bathhouse where they continued to beat them up, Olexiy had one of his vertebrae broken. Later they broke another one too.

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Olexiy was brought to a small cell for four prisoners where the Russians kept twelve people. The prisoners’ bunks were welded above the first row of bunks to form a second row of bunks. And all the POWs could not stand at the same time in the cell because there was not enough room for everyone to stand. Olexiy was interrogated by counterintelligence agents and the FSB. The procedure started with taking the POWs into the corridor where the beating would begin. The Russian would hit any part of the body. They did not care what they damaged:  dislocate your kneecap, or break your spine, or your ribs, or tear your ligaments, they really did not care.  And it did not matter whether you were a civilian, a woman or a serviceman. There were mentally sick people and elderly men there. But it made no difference to the Russians.

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As for the meals, in the morning the prisoners were given thin porridge cooked in water or overcooked pasta or broken rice. This counted as a hearty meal. Half a small glass of water and a piece of bread. The bread was thick but porous and had very few calories.  For lunch they would give them very thin prison soup, it was practically boiled water with a piece of cabbage leaf floating in it. Naturally no meat or potatoes. For the main course chopped rice or buckwheat chaff. And it was not grain at all. It was chaff.  And that kind of lunch was served at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. It was not easy to hold out until 4pm from 6 in the morning when they had breakfast. And for dinner they were given sprouting potatoes. And fish intestines, tails and bones boiled and ground-up.  The guards liked to comment: “Our dogs don’t like this kind of food. We give meat to our dogs. Would you like to get some meat from our dog’s bowl?”

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Easter beatings

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Then Easter came. And one of the guards asked us if we would like to get an egg. The POWs would answer that they would really be very grateful to get an Easter egg as they were all Orthodox Christians. And the guard on duty replied:” You will get it in the evening.” And for Easter lunch the POWs got a cabbage leaf with boiling water poured over it. There was no main course so it was even worse than the usual lunch. Olexiy was eating that cabbage leaf and he felt a surge of energy. Can you imagine how weak a person must be to feel a surge of energy from a boiled cabbage leaf!  At that moment Olexiy believed that a cabbage leaf could determine his life. Just a cabbage leaf! And in the evening they gave them another cabbage leaf for for dinner. And then Olexiy dared to ask the guard on duty: ‘What about the Easter egg you promised us?”

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“All in good time. Don’t worry, you’ll get it. Everything comes to those who wait.”

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And at 8 o’clock in the evening during the “evening examination” the POWs were led out from their cells into the corridor. The Russian Special Forces men, Buryats and local Special Forces, were already there. They were greeting each other and the POWs began to have a bad feeling. Something was going on! Then they started beating the POWs in the groin saying: “Well, here is what you wanted, didn’t you? You wanted eggs.” After that beating Olexiy had the feeling that he would not last long.

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Strict Regime Colony in Tula region

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Then from that pre-trial detention camp in Kursk Olexiy was transported to the village of Donske in Tula region on 5th of May 2022. It was a strict regime colony. From 5th of May till 20th of August Olexiy was in cell number 20. And from 20th of August till 31st of December he was kept in a punishment cell. Punishment cell number one. Olexiy spent 108 days there.

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For newcomers the Russians would order three men out at a time. The three men had to run into the yard of the colony while the prison guards lined up on both sides of the yard creating a live corridor. The POWs had to jump about all over the yard and run into a building where the “Priyomka” started. Again “Priyomka”, one more “Priyomka.” The Russians would beat you up, undress you to check if you were bringing anything into the prison, register your name and then you would be given a cell number. Olexiy’s wounds had not had time to heal from the previous beatings but here they were again. The POWs were put into the cells.

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The POWs were given one bucket jerrycan for urine for all of them. It meant that if one man used it, then the next one would have nowhere to pee in as there was one can for everyone and it got filled up pretty fast. So they all tried to pee just a little so that each one would have a chance and no one would have to drink urine to make some space in the urine can for the others. Olexiy remembers the faces of his cellmates, a border guard from Chernihiv region, whom Olexiy befriended in Kursk, and Olexander Antonenko, who was from Kotsybinsk. Then the old man and two other men who were kept in Kursk.  Olexiy remembers their faces, faces that looked like the faces of corpses: pale and grey. All the POWs lived in the anticipation of something bad coming soon.

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They sorted the POWs out according to medical indications such as those who had leg wounds like a hole in their legs. There were three men in the cell together with Olexiy. One was a marine from Mariupol. He had lost his son on Illicha plant (part of the Azovstal plant) and he himself was taken prisoner. The other man was from Volnovaha. He was a civilian who supported Russia and it was particularly hard for him as he loved Russia. And yet he was there and was beaten up every day like everybody else. The POWs were beaten every day and sometimes several times a day. When Olexiy sat on his bed because of his injured legs there would instantly be a camera flash and the voice asking: “Why did you sit down? Did you hear the order? Stand up, you son of a bitch! Hands up! To the bars with your head down.”

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Alexiy had to stand like that till the evening. No one gave him any other order. Then Olexiy said: “I have an injured leg. Can I sit down?”

The answer came straight away: “I don’t care a bit. It’s your problem.”

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Later in the evening a hatchway in the wall was opened up and a young man from the Special Forces came in and said: ‘You, the young one, come here. Are you a kick boxer? Who do you know in kick boxing?"

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Olexiy gave some names from Orel and the Russian was satisfied as he most likely had known those names. And he left but Olexiy had a hope that the Russian would help him in some way to contact his family to let them know that he was still alive. But actually it was Sergiy from Bryansk who managed to reach Olexiy’s family with the good news that Olexiy was alive. It was Sergiy who called his own wife who set up a special account so that she could talk to Olexiy’s wife. But Olexiy did not know that his wife already knew that he was a POW.

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The next day the same man from the Special Forces took some of the POWs for a walk in the yard. Everything seemed to be OK. Walking around the yard they could hear the screams of the other POWs who were being beaten somewhere inside the building. But nobody touched those who were in the yard. They even allowed them to do some exercises though they would not allow the POWs to look up. Olexiy noticed the Special Forces patch “BARS” on the Russian’s cap. Olexiy also noticed that an officer from the military commissariat from cell number 16 was there too. His name was Borysenko. He was from Izyum. And there was another one from Kharkiv, from the 92nd brigade, Olexiy’s friend, just a wonderful person but Borysenko betrayed him. Olexiy’s friend was planning an escape from captivity and Borysenko gave him away and Olexiy’s friend was put into a punishment cell. I would never wish Borysenko to come back to Ukraine. Actually Borysenko provided whatever information he had to the Russians. The location of the recruitment offices in Kharkiv, the metro stations, etc.

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For two days after “Priyomka” the POWs did not have anything to eat, and then they were given cabbage. But it was so mushy and over salted that Olexiy could not eat it. Despite the fact that Olexiy was very hungry he could not make himself eat it. Everything was burning inside his stomach.  The next day they had porridge cooked in water not milk and a piece of white bread. Then for lunch they were given half a plate of soup and something for the main course and even several pieces of fried lard with a piece of bread and in the evening they were given cabbage with a piece of bread and a piece of herring. Everyone was surprised at this. And Olexiy thought to himself: “Not bad, I admit. You can live on it.”  However, this kind of meal was only for four days. Then their rations were cut down dramatically, they were mainly given water, that was all.

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Being beaten for the Russian pilot Krasnoyartsev

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On 9th of May the prisoners were led outside for a walk. It was snowing hard. Very soon the prisoners got wet through. They were shaking from the cold. They had slippers on their feet and their prison uniform was made of a very thin material. It was very cold in the cells. Their hands were constantly freezing and blue. When they were supposed to wash their faces in the morning, they could not do it properly as their hands were numb with cold. There was a constant draught in the cell and when the prisoners had to stand they were not allowed to move.

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As soon as Olexiy came back to his cell, the door opened and there was a order: “Anulya, leave the cell.” Olexiy was led to a room. He had to bend over and the Russians started beating him. There were seven men from Special Forces and two more standing behind Olexiy. They started asking Olexiy about Krasnoyartsev [the Russian pilot shot down over Chernihiv in March 2022, returned to Russia in a POW exchange and later sentenced in absentia by a Ukrainian court for murdering a civilian in Chernihiv]: “Where was he? Who shot him down? Where was he hiding?”

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Olexiy told them that he was just a driver and he could not have shot him down. But his torturers did not believe Olexiy. They were really very stupid people. They believed that Ukraine was just a big village where everyone would know each other. Actually, whatever they said or asked was complete nonsense. For Olexiy it was hard to believe that people in the 21st century could be so ignorant. All the interrogations in all the places where Olexiy had been were practically identical: questions about your attitude towards the war, how you felt about Crimea and the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Personal participation in the Maidan Revolution, whether the interrogated person knew anyone from AZOV or the PRAVY SECTOR (Right Sector party), the Aidar Battalion and your personal attitude to them, your opinion on the church split into Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox. They wanted to know which church the person went to. One of the FSB officers even phoned Chernihiv Trinity church to find out if Olexiy was their parishioner.  They would ask about church issues constantly at practically every interrogation. They also wanted to know why Olexiy spelled his name the way he spelled it (That is the first letter was ‘O’ not ‘A’ as in the Russian version of his name). They could not get it that the Ukrainian language was a different language. When Olexiy was putting commas in the texts that they had dictated to him to write down, they were all surprised and asked how Olexiy could know where to put commas. Olexiy would give them some grammar rules on where to put commas, for example before “but”, and the Russians were curious to know where he got his education. “At school”, replied Olexiy. University education was something beyond their understanding. It was something really extraordinary for the Russians. Practically all the Ukrainians in Russian captivity were well educated people. All of them finished high school and many had university degrees. Even some of the Russian officers did not have university degrees.

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Beatings with plastic clubs

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They beat Olexiy with clubs like the ones used by Berkut and OMON. Usually those clubs would leave bumps on the skin while those that were plastic sticks would leave cuts. Due to these plastic sticks Olexiy had so many cuts on his legs that they started to fester. It was all due to those plastic sticks. They not only cut the skin, they also pierce your muscles tearing them. Then the Russians applied stun guns and gas canisters . The Russians would spray gas right into the faces of the POWs. Or sometimes the Russians would spray gas into the cells. Different shifts of Russian guards would invent different tortures. But there was one particular shift who were real scumbags. They would make the prisoners squat every time they were in the cell. And then they had to run squatting from the first floor to the second floor and back. They would make them do 500 squats, 300 squats. Sometimes the prisoners would hardly have time to finish one task before they would be given another. Guards were watching the POWs on CCTV and God forbid if anyone did not squat in the proper way or did not do it well enough, or when the prisoners had to do it together in groups putting their arms on the shoulders of their neighbours did not do it synchronically and a wave started, then their torturers would punish them severely. “Did not you hear the order? Do you think you are the smartest?” And with these shouts they would start beating their prisoners again. The aim was to find someone who would not stand it, someone who would break down. Every time a POW left the cell, he would know what was going to happen next. You knew you would have to go through more beating and torture. Your heart would start beating rapidly. And the main thing was not to give the satisfaction to your torturers of understanding how you felt. They must not see your fear. Because they were ecstatic when someone was terrified or screamed with pain. The Russians would laugh and say: “We are the best. We are the Marine Corps, we are the elite.” There was one guard by the name of Vados. He was one of their leaders. He was tall, muscular, a beefcake. He would give the prisoners commands as if he was training a dog. There was his system of seven and then eight knocks. Vados would come along the prison corridor and give different number of knocks at the doors of the cells. When the prisoners heard one knock, they had to react immediately. Hearing one knock the prisoners had to shout: “Good day, Boss.  Two knocks meant a report:  Boss, cell number twenty. The number of detainees is…. The report is given by the cell duty prisoner Anulya Olexiy Yevhenovich.” Three knocks – the prisoners had to squat. Four knocks – the prisoners had to pronounce the words “Pika-pika-choo” with special intonation. They had to stretch out that “Choooooo” so that it sounded as if the POWs were children in a nursery. Five knocks – the prisoners had to pronounce the names of the Ukrainian president and the American president using disgraceful words for them.  “Zelensky is a faggot. Biden is a faggot.” Six knocks were for: “Whoever is not jumping is a Russian and anyone jumping is a faggot." The prisoners had to jump as they were watched very closely.  “Why aren’t you jumping?”  Or ‘Why are you jumping so badly? Are you a faggot?”  

 

Seven was for “Russia is a generous soul.”  The Russians did this knocking all the time with newcomers. They knocked at the door of your cell and sometimes it was hard to tell whether it was a knock at your door or the neighbouring door. Sometimes one jailer was knocking once at your cell door while another was knocking twice at the neighbouring door and it was difficult to understand which door had what number of knocks.   The thing was that the reaction had to be instant for all those who were in the cell. And they all had to pronounce the words in chorus and if not, there would be a punishment. If one or two prisoners said the right words sooner or later than each other then it would be a reason for a punishment. It seemed to Olexiy that they were being trained like Pavlov’s dogs.

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Having a haircut

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Having a haircut was another kind of torture. Because while one person was having a haircut, the other one was beaten up and vice versa. It was also shocking for the barber. His hands would be trembling and shaking and that meant cuts on the head. And everyone knew that the longer the barber was working the longer the Russians would be beating the other prisoner. The barber was an elderly man. On that day Olexiy was the first to get a haircut. So he had to take off his shirt and the guards saw that Olexiy was muscular. Actually he was very skinny and yet you could see some muscles. It immediately raised the question “Do you work out?”.  In truth Olexiy tried to work out in his cell though it was forbidden. But Olexiy tried to be fit. At the same time another prisoner who was a professional basketball trainer had to take his shirt off and the Russians started beating him. Can you imagine how Olexiy felt knowing that the longer the barber was cutting his hair, the longer they would be beating his friend. And also to realize that the next would be him. After having his haircut, Olexiy stood up and had to thank, the barber with the words: “Thank you, Nikolaevich, the best barber ever.” And then they started beating Olexiy. It was a really terrible beating. Olexiy was actually crawling along the corridor for nearly ten meters until he reached his cell. And then they came to take Olexiy to the cell which was downstairs, punishment cell number one.

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