Intense pressure, torture, no calls: Azov fighter tells about Russian captivity

"Russia needed some fact that we were treated somehow. But in fact, it was not a treatment, it was the preservation of life so that we simply lived until the moment when we might be exchanged. In our case, we were exchanged. There was a very intense psychological pressure ... Russia did not give any chance to call relatives, there was no contact at all with the outside world," Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, a soldier of the Azov Regiment who was freed from Russian captivity, said at a press conference, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He noted that from the first days of their stay in the hospital, the severely wounded prisoners were interrogated.

"The boys were subjected to tremendous torture. Some had needles inserted into their wounds, some were tortured with water. Some boys received insufficient treatment: the enemy had either insufficient stock of medicines or insufficient knowledge of how to treat a particular fighter," Zhaivoronok said.

As reported, a powerful explosion occurred in the building where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held in the territory of the former penal colony No. 210 in Olenivka, the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region, on the night of July 29.

According to the Russian side, about 50 Ukrainian defenders were killed and more than 70 were seriously injured.

The Russians denied the Ukrainian branch of the International Committee of the Red Cross access to the Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka, violating the Geneva Conventions.

Photo credit: will-live.com

ol