– I’m feeling great now, I’m in rehabilitation. news meets 21-year-old Andrii Prekhin in a run-down block of flats in the west of the industrial town of Zaporizhzhya, in south-east Ukraine. On a shelf in the room, which serves as both bedroom and living room, is a helmet and a uniform cap. The last one seems to date back to when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. We are only a few tens of kilometers from the front in Ukraine. In the distance we hear the booming of the cannons. Almost no one reacts to the constant flight alarms anymore. Just like Zelenskyj, Andrii has dressed in a dark green shirt with the Ukrainian national symbol. – When we realized we were surrounded, we knew we were in bad shape. When we surrendered, things went smoothly. We all thought we would be released within a few months, he says. From pharmacist to soldier Andrii, along with thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, was captured by Russian forces in the battles for Mariupol and the giant Azovstal factory in the spring of 2022. Between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to the Russian forces after the defeat in Mariupol in May 2022 Andrii Prekhin at the back of the photo. Photo: AP He had originally intended to train as a pharmacist, but in autumn 2021 Andrii and many others in Ukraine felt that the situation was beginning to drag on. – On 8 October 2021, I signed a contract with the Azov Regiment, says Andrii Prekhin. Andrii Prekhin with his mother Julija, before he enlisted in the Azov Regiment. Photo: The Private Azov Regiment originally had a reputation for attracting right-wing nationalists, not only from Ukraine but also from other countries. Among other things, Sweden. In 2021, Azov was part of the internal forces of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. It was suggested to the 21-year-old that he would primarily be assigned to guard and control. These were also the tasks he was given when, on 15 December 2021, he was transferred to Mariupol in the south of Donetsk county. Andrii Prekhin photographed just before the major Russian attack on February 24, 2022. Photo: Private – When we got there, nothing special happened. We were placed in the second row. We checked cars and looked at documents, he says. – We didn’t think anything serious could happen. It was quiet and calm, even though we were only about six kilometers from the so-called contact line between the Ukrainian government forces and the Russian-backed separatists. Russia launches a major attack On February 24, 2022, something happened that some had warned about, but that few had actually thought could happen. Russia’s president announced a full invasion of neighboring Ukraine, where the goal was to remove the country’s government and establish a pro-Russian government. – As usual, I was on duty at the checkpoint, and we were told to take up combat positions. After a few days we were placed under the direct command of the Azov Regiment, and soon the Russian forces began to get uncomfortably close. At home in Zaporizhzhya, the mother Julija became more and more worried about what happened to her son. Andrii Prekhin has many medals from his wrestling days. Photo: Privat The happy youngster, who had once also been one of the best wrestlers in this part of Ukraine, was caught in the middle of the worst war that Europe has seen since World War II. Andrii used to call every day. But now a week could pass between each day he contacted her, she told in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda. As early as mid-March, it was clear that the Ukrainian defenses west of Mariupol in the direction of the Krym Peninsula were about to break down completely. The city, which before the war had around 400,000 inhabitants, was now practically surrounded. Damage The Ukrainian forces were totally inferior in the battle for Mariupol, not least when it came to heavier weapons and air support. Although the experienced soldiers defending the city were motivated, they were pushed back into defensive positions inside the large factory areas to the east of the city. Here is the giant Azovstal factory, owned by Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov. – I was hit by shrapnel from a grenade at the beginning of April, and was practically unable to move at all for a couple of weeks, Andrii says. This photo was taken by Andrii Prekhin of himself during the siege of Azovstal. Photo: Privat He tells of an increasingly hopeless situation where the Ukrainian army was unable to help with full force. – There were rumors that we might reach an agreement where we were evacuated with a Turkish ship, says Andrii. In the end, it ended with the UN and the International Red Cross negotiating an agreement on surrender, in exchange for Russia committing to follow international rules for the treatment of prisoners. To Olenivka – We walked approximately one and a half kilometers to an agreed place. There we formally surrendered to the Russian forces. The surrender took place in an orderly fashion, where the Russian forces behaved in a civilized manner, he says. – I got the impression that these were soldiers who had not been directly involved in the battles for Mariupol. In addition, there were many present who came from the Russian security service FSB. The Ukrainian soldiers were body searched and then they were placed in buses. The Red Cross was present during the actual surrender. Andrii says that was the last time they saw anything to any international observers. The 21-year-old was then driven north in Donetsk county to the village of Olenivka, about ten kilometers south of Donetsk city. What was a penal colony designed for around 400 criminals was now filled with more than 2,000 exhausted and partly wounded soldiers. – We were placed in corridors. Food was also very scarce in the early days, he says. The regular soldiers and non-commissioned officers were placed separately. The senior officers and commanders were taken away to another place. – It took a few days before they took the mobile phones from us. Most of us were therefore told home that we had been captured, but alive. Not ill-treatment, but harsh treatment After just over a month in Olenivka, he was sent north to a prison in the part of Luhansk county that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists. He was lucky. On July 29, 2022, a rocket or explosive hit one of the buildings of the Olenivka prison, killing 53 Ukrainian soldiers. 75 were wounded. A UN investigation has concluded that the rocket or grenade did not come from Ukrainian-controlled territory. The prison camp in Luhansk was not built to receive such a large group of prisoners. – When we got there, we were put on the ground, and I had a machine gun pointed at me. There were barking dogs everywhere. We were told to sit with our heads down, and that’s how we sat for several hours, he says. “Blind for the eyes” The prisoners from Mariupol thought from the start that their imprisonment would be relatively short. The problem was that there were so many of them, and that Ukraine was unable to capture so many Russian soldiers, after the fronts stabilized beyond the spring of 2022. In September 2022, Ukraine chose to allow the pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk to go to Russia, against get some of the leaders of the Azov regiment released from Mariupol, among them Denys Prokopenko and Svjatoslav Palamar. The Azov commanders then returned to Ukraine in early July 2023, following an agreement between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Denys Prokopenko, on the left in the photo, and several other officers from the Azov Regiment returned to Ukraine at the beginning of July, together with the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyj. Photo: AFP The vast majority of Ukrainian prisoners of war, including Andrii Prekhin, remained in captivity. But suddenly, one day in March 2023, he was told that he would be allowed to go home. – We were blindfolded and then taken to an airport. After the flight, which Andrii describes as very rough, he and the other Ukrainian prisoners were taken on buses to the Ukrainian border for the actual exchange. Still many left At home in Zaporizhia, Andrii opens a window in the small apartment he lives in before lighting a smoke. Although he assures us that he is fine, it is not difficult to see that he is affected by what he has been through. – I also think a lot about the fact that of the approximately 400 prisoners who were in the prison in Luhansk, only about 1/3, around 140, have been allowed to return home. Andrii Prekhin thinks a lot about the several thousand Ukrainian soldiers who are still in Russian captivity. Photo: Lokman Ghorbani / news It is likely that around 2,000, of the perhaps between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers who were captured in Mariupol, are still being held captive by the Russians. Therefore, Azovstal and Mariupol are still words that evoke bitter feelings in Ukrainian society. On July 29, 2023, there was a commemoration in front of the former Russian Embassy in Kyiv for the Ukrainian prisoners of war killed in Olenivka and for those still in captivity. Photo: Reuters And with as few prisoners as Ukraine manages to take, and a peace solution completely out of the blue, there is a danger that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers will have to settle for long stays under miserable conditions in Russian prison camps.
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