Wives of Mariupol defenders injured in Olenivka received video calls from imprisoned spouses, which russia deliberately used in an interview

Recently, three wives of POWs, who had defended Mariupol and got injured during the terrorist attack in Olenivka, had conversations with their relatives for the first time in two years via video calls. As it turned out, the russians used one of these conversations in an interview, which they later spread in their information space.

Three wives of prisoners of war representing the Olenivka Community NGO made this statement during a press conference at Media Center Ukraine.

According to Anna Lobova, the wife of a Mariupol defender who was seriously injured during the terrorist attack in Olenivka, several groups have been spreading information seeking her contact details as well as those of other wives of captive defenders. It was also suggested that they should write to the chatbot for feedback.

“I contacted them, but I was simply told that your husband wanted to talk to me. I didn’t believe it, to be honest, knowing my whole situation, and my husband didn’t know where we were, I wasn’t sure that my husband could really ask for such a thing. That was the end of it. And then, about six months later, I received an unexpected call on my Telegram in the middle of the day, and my husband was there on the video,” said Anna Lobova.

The woman did not know her conversation would be recorded, as well as that it was a part of the interview with her spouse. However, some time after the conversation, she found out that the full video interview with her husband was made public.

Even during the video call, the woman had the impression that her husband looked scared and felt uncomfortable. However, she added that her husband had shown dignity when answering all questions in the interview, which was later published by the russians. Anna Lobova also noted that the published video contained attempts to pressure the POW as well as to bring out emotions in him, particularly through a conversation with their little child.

At the same time, two more wives of captive defenders, Mariia Aleksieievich and Anastasiia Hondiul, who also spoke with their husbands via video calls, noted that similar interviews had not been made public based on the results of their conversations. However, they, as well as Anna Lobova, were sent a fragment of the conversation after the conversation, where their husbands appealed to the Ukrainian authorities for release from captivity.

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