Trigger warning: This post contains descriptions of torture, including sexual violence.
Oral interpretation provided during the interview has been omitted from the transcript for brevity, except where the interpreter provides additional cultural context or clarification.
I: Vitaliy was telling me, I think… It [the city] was occupied in March, right? Or something like that?
B: Well yeah, they occupied our city [Balakliia, Kharkiv oblast] on March 2nd and, long story short, I was taken captive on April 3rd. We were busy with evacuations and all that stuff, so… [long pause] Those were the days.
I: [Translating into English]. And the city… the Ukrainian government doesn’t seem interested in helping people who went through this [captivity]. So he founded this second organization called “Civilian Prisoners of War” to help those who went through captivity.
V: So like, psychological help or more like financial support?
I: [Interpreting into Ukrainian].
B: Let’s put it this way: first and foremost, it’s psychological help for everyone who has gone through captivity, torture, CRSV [Conflict-Related Sexual Violence]. Obviously, the mind isn’t quite right after that. Our first task is to stabilize the person, so that we can work with them later and understand exactly what kind of help they need. Primarily, it’s psychology [psychological] and legal aid.
[01:50] I: Legal in what sense?
B: Filing paperwork with the Ministry [of Reintegration] to obtain the status of a person deprived of personal liberty as a result of armed aggression.
I: You have to do all that?
B: Of course, you have to. Does anyone need sugar?
I: [Interpreting into English]
V: [In English] Yeah. [In Ukrainian] Please.
I: Two, three?
V: Two, please.
B: And for you?
I: None for me, thanks.
B: Ha! That’s good, saves me money. [laughs]
I: Well, yeah. [Interpreting Respondent’s previous lines into English]. –
B: Forgot to ask. Black or green?
V: Black, please.
I: Black. [laughs] Thank you –
V: Thank you. [laughs]
I: [In English] So, first of all it is psychological help, and they also help them legally.
V: And what paperwork? Why do they [Bogdan’s organization “Civilian Prisoners of War”] need to submit paperwork to the government?
I: From what he said, it’s to prove that they were held in captivity. So that the government can then note that, and you will receive some financial support [long pause]. I’ll ask him this question, if he can elaborate.
V: Okay.
I: [In Ukrainian] Bogdan, why submit documents to the government at all? Does it provide some financial support later on, or maybe other material support? Like subsidies, pensions, and things like that?
B: You just answered your own question with everything you said.
I: Really? [laughs] [Interpreting into English].
B: Let’s put it this way, there are many benefits if… once you obtain this status. First and foremost, you get financial support from the state; it’s a one-time payment, but still very decent. Then there’s the opportunity to go to various places for rehabilitation. Plus… [long pause] well, we are actively advocating for the possibility of getting some discounts on utility services. We are working on it now. On top of that, long story short, we are exempt from mobilization and get the possibility to travel abroad.
I: Wow, that’s very cool. [Interpreting into English].
V: [In English] So with the discounted services, is that a proposal or is that the current law?
I: [Interpreting into Ukrainian].
B: No, this bill has already been passed; the only thing is that we are refining it a bit, let’s say, working on making certain changes regarding what else we would like to see in it.
I: [Interpreting into English].
V: How many people has Bogdan’s organization been able to help?
I: [Interpreting into Ukrainian].
B: Those of us who have obtained the status are members of our organization. There are 4 people who officially received the status. In total, there are 35 people in the organization as of today. The organization consists exclusively of men. We are pro gender equality and all that, we have nothing against it, but as practice has shown, organizations that deal with women were founded back in 2016 here in Ukraine. Those that deal specifically with women who also went through captivity, torture, CRSV; including a bunch of other things, like human trafficking. But as for men’s organizations, up to 2024 there were only two of those. One was founded in Kherson, the other one in Kyiv. As of today, it’s safe to say, there are already five men’s organizations.
I: Five. I see. So, I take it, you’ve fully helped four people from A to Z, and another 35 people are in progress?
B: Yes, in progress, but let’s just say this process is very complicated and not easy. Personally, I’ve already received two rejections from the Ministry. However, we aren’t giving up. We will write a follow-up application, send it off, and wait for the review.
I: [Interpreting into English].
V: Is Bogdan willing to talk about his experiences in captivity?
I: [Interpreting into Ukrainian].
B: No problem.
I: [Interpreting into English]
V: Where were you captured?
I: [Interpreting into Ukrainian]
[11:00] B: Let’s put it this way, we were doing evacuations and, when the city was already occupied, we were bringing in medicine, food, hygiene products, household chemicals – well, everything that was needed here in the city… [long pause] You can interpret, because if I keep talking now, you won’t be able to translate it all later.
I: [In English] So, ok–
B: Hold on a second, you guys don’t mind if we smoke in here, do you?
I: [In English] Do you mind if he smokes in here?
V: No-no.
I: Okay. He asked me to go ahead and interpret. [Interpreting into English]. [In Ukrainian to Respondent] Okay?
B: Well, and on April 3rd, 2022, we were heading into the city in three cars. We would bring stuff in and take people out. We had an agreement [among ourselves] that we were going in one last time, and then we wouldn’t go anymore. Because they had already started… [pause] Let’s just say, the first civilians were taken prisoner on April 2nd. We got captured on the 3rd. Because of that, we had agreed we’d go in, pick up three pregnant women [Note: Respondent uses a Russified term “beremeni”], get them out, and not come back there anymore. Because it was already very dangerous. We realized that sooner or later they would take us anyway.
I: Was this an agreement with the Russians or with the Ukrainians?
B: No, it was among our team – me, Misha, and Dima. We used to always make trips together. The three of us came in here and agreed to make our last trip. Because, like I said, it was already very dangerous.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: And it was in the morning on the 3rd that we were driving in. Let’s say, it was the first checkpoint at the entrance [to the city]. It was located at the Druzhba [bus] stop [Note: Druzhba means “friendship” and it is the name of the bus stop]. We were coming in around 7 o’clock in the morning. And we got pulled over there.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: Well, they stopped us, as usual, to check our paperwork. After we showed our documents, they told us: “That’s it, you’re not going any further.” Logical question: “Why?” They say: “An informant report was filed against you at the commandant’s office. That’s it, park your cars, you aren’t going any further.” They took our documents and “successfully” loaded us into a “Gazelle” [a light commercial van]. A tinted Gazelle that they had, of course, seized from our local entrepreneurs.
I: And just like that? [Interpreting into English].
[16:00] B: They loaded us into this Gazelle and took us. Let’s put it this way, we have a forestry office, but those who took us prisoner were actual… [long pause] I don’t want to use foul language. Anyway, people who were brought here from the so-called DPR [Donetsk People’s Republic] and the LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] [Note: DPR and LPR are self-proclaimed republics, areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine, occupied by Russia since 2014]. They were mostly the ones operating the checkpoints, and obviously, the logical question was – what happens to us next? They say: “We are taking you to those who gave us your descriptions. We don’t know what will happen to you afterwards.”
I: [Interpreting into English]. [In English] This is crazy.
V: Yes, yes.
B: [In Ukrainian] How do i say it, the “reception” [the moment they were admitted at the drop-off point] was such that when they beat us – we wouldn’t even touch the ground. [long pause]
I: [Interpreting into English]
B: You know, they have such hatred for us that… I’ll tell you my personal story. I’ve been working with psychologists [therapists] for more than three years now, so I can talk about it pretty casually and it doesn’t stress me out. If someone had wanted to talk to me about captivity in 2022 or 2023, it would have been a definite “no”… [long pause] Anyway, when they took me down, nobody looked at where they were hitting. There was one Buryat there [an ethnic minority soldier from Siberia, Russia; Buryat units are being associated with particular brutality], whom I’ll remember for the rest of my life, who was specifically targeting… the private parts. While doing so, he kept saying: [In Russian] “You need to be destroyed as a nation, so that you don’t reproduce anymore.” [long pause]
I: You can curse, I will. [Interpreting into English].
B: They accused us of fire adjusting (spotting), that we were target coordinators [Note: Spotting refers to civilians providing target coordinates to the Ukrainian military]. Plus, they claimed we were relocating the families of military personnel serving in the AFU [The Armed Forces of Ukraine] out of here. Obviously, we didn’t admit to it, but that’s exactly how it was – we were moving people out and helping many to leave. Because we realized that if they came for them – it would be used to blackmail soldiers. “You want your family back – come on over. You surrender – they go free.”
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: They also threatened to shoot us right there on the spot. Naturally, when you’re in a state of shock and you don’t fully understand what’s going to happen to you, when there are armed people standing around you and your hands are tied – it’s a pretty bad situation. Once they finished the “reception,” they loaded us back into the Gazelle and took us to a second location. Why that was done – I don’t understand to this day. They took the three of us, got us out of the Gazelle, and stood us like this… across from one another, sacks on our heads wrapped around our necks with tape, hands also wrapped with tape. They just stood us across from one another and forbade us from communicating so we wouldn’t agree on anything. We were being watched, because, you know, even with a sack on your head, you feel it when someone is watching you and looking for your reaction. We stood like that for about two hours.
I: In silence?
B: Yes.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: Then they took us back into the Gazelle, that same infamous Gazelle. They drove us around the city for probably another hour and a half or two. And why the driving? So we wouldn’t understand where they were taking us. Well, since we’re locals, we know the area quite well… They took us to the old bus depot, it’s outside the city. And they kept us in a basement there. I just found a video. You can interpret while I…
I: [Interpreting into English]. [In English] He found a video of what happened next, and he wants to show it.
V: Did someone else take the video?
I: [Interpreter to Bogdan] Who was filming the video?
B: This was after the city was de-occupied… I filmed it. I just knew where we had been kept. For probably two months I would drive past this place – I couldn’t go back there. I should say, now it’s my place of power. When things are really bad for me, I go back there, sit down, smoke a couple of sticks [HEETS for e-cigarette IQOS], gather my thoughts, and move on.
I: You’ve reframed everything. And made it so that now it works in your favor.
B: Well, look, the whole point is, as they say, what doesn’t–
I: Kill you makes you stronger–
B: No, the point is that what used to trigger you, scare you, and all that – you can use it to your benefit. So as not to be afraid, not to avoid it. I just flipped it a bit, the way I need it. And now I’m okay with it. I wanted to show you–
I: [In English] It was filmed later. [The group begins watching the video on the respondent’s phone].
V: [In Ukrainian] Can I… take photos?
B: I can send it to you, if you want.
I: [Interpreting into English].
[Video context: Shaky mobile phone footage showing a stairway leading down into a dark basement. The space was likely used as a restroom or shower room during the Soviet era. This is evident from the remnants of ruined shower partitions and sewage pipes protruding from the concrete floor. Currently, the room is filled with piles of construction debris, dust, and trash].
B: Nothing has changed.
I: [Interpreting into English]. [In English to Interviewer] So he made this video a few months after it was liberated.
B: Well, speaking about the conditions…
I: [Interpreting into English]. How long were you held there?
B: We were held there for three days. Three whole days.
I: [In English to Interviewer] They were held there for three whole days.
B: [In Ukrainian] So, this was our bedroom, dining room, toilet, and so on. When they brought us there, brought us down into this very basement, there were other guys there already. Some of them still haven’t been found. It’s unknown if they are alive or dead. When we were brought there, I knew for sure two of the guys – Artur Sirenko and Vasya Maleta. They were there. To this day it’s unknown if they are alive or dead. Then they brought another guy to us, an ATO veteran [the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Eastern Ukraine, 2014-2018], and when they were “receiving” him, they beat all his internal organs out. That was his spot, right there where the TV is [points at his phone screen]. He is also gone to this day.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: Well, you can see what the conditions were like. We sat with our hands tied and sacks on our heads for an entire day. We had to ask those who were already there, “guys, help us get untied.” Because simply even to use the toilet – your hands are tied; it was a huge problem. We had to ask each other for help.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: The first day, when we had sacks [over our heads] with our hands tied, they didn’t feed us, no water, no food, nothing was there. And now I recall that when night fell, well, obviously there’s stress and all that, but you have to somehow settle down to sleep. As you can see, there are no beds or anything there. For the three of us, our sleeping spot was two three-liter paint cans and a board. Probably about this size [gestures the size of the board, about 50cm], that was our sleeping spot. We just huddled together so we wouldn’t freeze. We were dressed quite lightly. But at night it was still cold. So we huddled like that, hugging each other, rubbing each other’s skin just to keep from freezing.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: On the second day, they brought new people in. On the first day we had 11 men in there. Then two were taken away. Anyway, let’s just say that because of the stress, I don’t even remember some of the people, although recently we met with one of the members of our organization – he’s now a member. He says, “I remember you, you were there, the three of you.” I said, “I don’t remember.” I just don’t remember. And on the second day when they brought more guys there, we asked – well, we didn’t ask, we begged – at least free our hands, because they had wrapped the tape so tight that the tape went right into the bones [points to wrists], straight to the bone through the skin.
I: It rubbed through?
B: Yes. Well, they wrapped it so there was no way to get untied. Plus, the tape was wrapped around the neck, so even if you wanted to, you couldn’t just take the sack off.
I: [Interpreting into English]
B: In three days, all we had for food was the hardtack crackers from their ration packs.
I: Those crackers?
B: Of course. That’s 2 packs of crackers for 11 men and a 5-liter jug of water, but it was only a bit more than half full.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: When we asked them when they’d let us out, the answer was always the same – that… [long pause] “they’ll talk to you, and if everything is fine with you, they’ll let you out.” Later, it turned out they simply forgot about us. In three days, we weren’t called for interrogation once. And it’s a good thing they didn’t call. Because it’s not a given we would have come out of there alive. Since they were accusing us of being spotters and scouts, guys like that are as good as dead. As of today, a lot of facts have surfaced about what happened to those accused of being spotters – people were shot, hanged, drowned, strangled.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: They just forgot about us. So, on the second day when they brought the other guys in, that’s when they freed our hands and cut the tape. They said: “You’re supposed to be called for interrogation today; if everything is fine, they’ll let you go.” That day, as it happened, there was a very heavy shelling; as we were sitting in the basement, we could hear a lot of hits landing somewhere nearby. So they simply forgot about us. Then on the third day, toward evening, someone just came down. I don’t know who, because whenever one of the “pydors” came in [Note: he uses a very strong slur to describe occupiers that is equivalent to “scumbags” or “bastards”], we were all warned to put the sacks on our heads and turn around so we wouldn’t see them. And so, on the third day they came down and said: “Volunteers, out.”
That, with no doubt, was the toughest phrase, after which your legs just go numb, your arms go numb, and you can’t even walk because you don’t know where you’re going. Especially since we already had guys who had been called for interrogation, and after the interrogation, they were literally pushed from the top of the stairs. They just fell down. Because they [occupiers] would beat out any confessions they needed… [long pause] like using electric shocks, well, there’s very little pleasant about it. And when they told us “volunteers, out”… let me tell you… it wasn’t as scary when they first took us as it was hearing “volunteers – get out.”
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: So, they led us out. It turns out that on that same day, April 5th, they had brought in some young people they had rounded up around town. They would take you just because they didn’t like the look of you. They threw them all into a “KAMAZ” [a heavy military truck] and took them to the same basement. At that time, they let the three of us go along with four other boys who were 14, 16, 17 years old. I mean, literally, some were just going to the local market to buy bread because there was a big problem with that, and were taken on the way. Some were just passing by their [Russian] hospital at the time – and they were taken. So, they just loaded us into the car, drove us to a nearby gas station. They gave us back our documents, gave us the phones – which was very strange, that they even returned the phones. And we asked what we should do. They said: “That’s it, you’re free to go. If you want – leave for the [Ukrainian] controlled territory, if you want – stay here. You aren’t of interest to us for now.”
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: Those three days were the hardest of all. It wasn’t so much fear for yourself as it was fear for your family, for your loved ones. Because we realized that we were quite beaten, hungry, and cold. It’s not as scary as, you know – what your family is thinking about you. Mentally and psychologically, it was so hard that words can’t possibly describe it. Later, when we returned, we got to know about how our girls were looking for us… For example, Dima, who I was held captive with, his daughter was 8 months old at the time. His wife was about to just take the baby and go into the occupied territory to look for him…
I: [Interpreting into English] [To Interviewer in English] You know, Ukrainian women. [To Respondent in Ukrainian] Ukrainian women. [laughs]
B: Yes, that’s exactly how it is [smiles]. Let’s say, when we finally returned to the [Ukrainian] controlled territory and drove through that same checkpoint where they detained us, they were very surprised that we had been let go. They gave us our cars back (they had taken our cars, too). The fact that they had cleaned out the cars wasn’t a big deal. At the time I had a white “Chetvorka” [a soviet made sedan], and I was carrying bread. They had handed out the bread the same day they took us – well, they took everything they could out of the car, even siphoned the gas… [long pause] Yeah.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: After returning to the [Ukrainian] controlled territory, in order to… [long pause] [exhales] not to lose my mind, the non-governmental organization “Wishing for Peace” was created.
I: Seriously?
B: Yes.
I: [Interpreting into English].
B: And, how to put it correctly, everything was directed toward simply helping people who were in the frontline villages, so that foolish thoughts wouldn’t get into my head. Basically, to take all that hatred and direct it to filling up my time. We had already been operating prior to that, and for us to officially approach charitable foundations – international ones, our national ones, various organizations – that’s exactly why the Wishing for Peace” organization was created. Well, you know, we worked quite a bit. And one of the most interesting facts from that time is that on May 1st, the city was completely closed off for entry and exit. Well, let’s just say we had our own loopholes, how we found ways to send medicine, food, household chemicals, and hygiene products in here.
I: [Interpreting into English]. And I remember this because I was helping them, too.
[Break]
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