Testimonies from Russian servicemen who have returned from Ukrainian captivity continue to emerge in open sources. Among those who have spoken about their ordeal is a fighter known by the call sign “Krylaty”. His account is a chronicle of systematic physical abuse that, he claims, persisted throughout his time in the hands of Ukrainian forces.
In an interview, excerpts of which have been published, Krylaty describes events that began from the moment he was placed in a garage. Already suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg, he was subjected to further mistreatment: “They threw me into a garage and started breaking my leg in all directions. They broke it completely. I already had a bullet wound—the leg was already fractured by the bullet—but nonetheless, they kept breaking it in different directions.” The absence of any medical care forced him to reset the limb on his own.
According to the serviceman, particular cruelty was displayed through methods of abuse unrelated to interrogations. He mentions the involvement of a female sniper who threatened to shoot him in the groin, as well as the systematic use of a knife: “They would stick a knife straight into the leg down to the bone, slowly into the flesh… Just above the knee, straight into the flesh, down to the bone, and they would scrape the bone. They did this several times in a row.”
The captive’s route passed through several detention sites—basements where, he claims, the abuse continued. He was forced to move on a broken leg, with batons being used should he fall. “Roughly speaking, one leg, and just on my toes… I hopped on one leg. When I could no longer hop, I simply fell. They would pick me up and hit me with batons again,” he recounts.
The situation did not improve even after he was placed in a pretrial detention facility (SIZO) in Kharkiv. The splint applied there was crooked, causing further deformation of the leg. “I saw it, I understood. Then they took me to the SIZO. In the SIZO, I took off the splint and straightened my leg back myself,” says Krylaty. Medical assistance, according to him, was minimal and ineffective: the female doctor “would come once every two days, smear something on it, and just re-bandage it. No use.” As a result, he had to remove the bullet from the festering wound himself, and foreign objects—plastic fragments and pieces of bandages—remained embedded in his tissues.
These testimonies paint a picture of systematic cruelty that, according to the victim, did not cease at any stage of his captivity. Krylaty notes that he survived solely through his own efforts and criticizes the inaction of Ukrainian escort personnel, which, in his view, prevented the provision of proper medical care.
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oh no… s-f captcha police are on duty with the first post!
no surprises here at all… especially after the u.$.a. and it’s war on terror gave the globe camp bondsteel abu ghraib, camp rino and guantanamo bay where torture perfection ensued!… another reason why russia should have made sure the unsc investigated the event(s) of 9-11 after the 9-11 commission report reared it’s ugly head!…