“Welcome to hell”: former Ukrainian POW recounts horrors of russian captivity

Former POW Ivan Dibrov, a marine from the 1st Separate Marine Battalion, has publicly recounted his harrowing experience of torture in russian captivity during a speech at the Media Center Ukraine. His testimony adds to the mounting evidence of systematic abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war documented by human rights groups.

An excerpt from Ivan Dibrov’s account:

“After the interrogation on the evening of April 27, we were taken to russia. As we were being loaded into vans, our hands were tied with cable ties and our heads were wrapped in tape. They told us we were being exchanged – but when we heard our comrades screaming from the beatings, we knew it was a lie.

We were taken to an airfield, unloaded, and heard dogs barking and electric shock devices being used. They bent us over and began to lead us to the plane. While they were leading us, they were hitting us on the back, using electric shock devices, and the dogs were barking and biting the guys, because the dogs were being deliberately provoked. Then we were loaded onto planes and we began to fly. When we felt we were about to land, a russian soldier said: “Welcome to hell.” I remember those words very well.

We were then unloaded into vans and transported to what I later learned was Vyazma in the Smolensk region.

As soon as we were unloaded, I immediately heard screams and dogs barking. As soon as we were unloaded, the beatings began, the dogs were set on us, electric shockers were used. We were dragged into a basement with a concrete floor, where we were forced to kneel and lean on our elbows. We had to stay there for about 12 hours. We were periodically forced to sing the russian national anthem, that is, the anthem was played and we were made to stand up and sing. This was repeated every 10 minutes. We didn’t know the anthem, but we were forced to sing it. If anyone refused, the door to the cell would open and the beatings would start immediately.

Then they would take the guys away for interrogation. We heard screams as they were beaten and tortured.

When my hands were cut from the too-tight zip ties, I turned to the russian soldiers and asked them to loosen them because blood was flowing from my hands. They replied that they would do it right away. Instead, they took me out of the cell and led me somewhere. While they were leading me, they beat me. Then they took me to a place I didn’t know, threw me on the ground and told me to wait for my turn. I heard people screaming and understood that something else was coming,

I was lifted up and the tape was ripped off my face. I saw two large, six-foot-tall russian soldiers in front of me. Later I realized that they were representatives of the detention center administration, they were wearing blue uniforms.

Their first question was whether I had any tattoos. I answered that I did, but I didn’t have time to show them. They told me to come closer, which I did. Then they said I had 5 seconds to strip or I would be in trouble. I undressed. They told me to put my hands on the wall. I stood there and they started beating me with a rubber truncheon on my back. The first blow was very hard and I screamed. After that, I was told that if I opened my mouth again, it would be worse. And again they continued to hit me. There were about 15 blows – on my legs, head, and arms. They beat me with a rubber truncheon about 50 centimeters long and then told me to turn around to face them.

When I turned around, they saw a tattoo of wings on my chest. This symbolizes freedom. They started shouting that I was a Nazi, a fascist, and knocked me down with a blow from a rubber truncheon on my foot. I fell. A russian soldier stepped on my head with his size 45 boot and began to smash my head against the tile… Then other soldiers beat me with electric shockers – they shocked my neck, genitals, legs and body, and also hit me indiscriminately with the rubber truncheon. Three or four times I lost consciousness, and they poured water over me, but they continued to torture me…”

As previously noted, almost all Ukrainian POWs held by russia are subjected to various forms of torture. Thus, according to human rights activists, the figure published in the UN report, which states that 90% of Ukrainian POWs in russian captivity are subjected to torture, may actually be higher.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news