According to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 3,424 Heroes have returned to Ukraine "on the shield" in prisoner swaps. However, it is not known for sure how many Ukrainian defenders have died in Russian captivity. That information is not available to the public. Family members do not always know the exact circumstances in which their loved ones died, but sometimes comrades of the deceased who were in captivity with them can provide evidence. They describe torture and lack of medical care, hunger, cold, abuse and pressure. Here we present eight short testimonies from the families of defenders whose lives were cut short in enemy captivity.
The text was prepared by the Memorial memory platform, which tells the stories of civilians killed by Russia and the fallen Ukrainian military. To report information about your losses, please fill out the forms about killed military and civilians.
The text was prepared by the Memorial memory platform, which tells the stories of civilians killed by Russia and fallen Ukrainian soldiers.
Oleksandr was 29. He was born in Prymorsk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. He graduated from the Berdiansk Mechanical Engineering Lyceum, where he majored in mechanics. He did his military service in Donetsk. In 2014, he volunteered for the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO).
"Sashko [short for Oleksandr] resigned in 2015, but not for long, because he wasn’t able to forge a path for himself among civilians. The following year, he signed a contract again. This was his life. He lived for his comrades-in-arms," said Oleksandr’s fiancée, Khrystyna Matiazh.
Oleksandr had served in the 36th Separate Marine Brigade since 2019. He was an armoured personnel carrier (APC) driver. During the full-scale Russian invasion, he defended Mariupol.
In April 2022, while leaving the Iron & Steel Works in Mariupol, Oleksandr and his comrades were taken captive by the Russians.
"The last text I got from him was on 11 April: ‘I'm alive, I'll call you when I get a connection.’ And that was it," Khrystyna said. "Then there were constant calls and the search for him. I knew he was alive, I was waiting. I thought I would meet him with flowers. I did... But with a black ribbon, not flowers. Sashko was tortured to death. He died in captivity on 13 March 2023. And that was it. It wasn’t him in the coffin, it was me. Sashko left behind his little daughter Yelyzaveta, who will never hug her daddy again, and he will protect his ‘Zizia’ from heaven. Sashko used to talk to his cellmate Wilhelm about his daughter, about how much he wanted to see her and hug her, about how she was growing up, and her first words. After the prisoner swap, Wilhelm told us that Sashko did not survive the terrible torture."
Sailor Oleksandr Karas was held captive in the village of Pakino in Russia. He was awarded the medal "For Meritorious Service". Oleksandr was buried in the military cemetery in the village of Kushuhum, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on 10 May 2024.
"My heart is just breaking with the pain. Whenever he came home for the weekend or on leave, there’d be so much joy... ‘Sashko’s here!’ The last time I helped him to get ready for service was on 2 December 2021. After that we only had video calls," Oleksandr’s fiancée added.
Yevhenii was 39. He was born in the village of Kotliareve, Mykolaiv Oblast, and worked as a tractor driver and combine operator. He spent his free time with his family, and he loved to go fishing and meet up with friends.
"He was very much respected and loved by everyone – he was the true life and soul of the company," his sister, Nataliia Ryabinina, said.
Although he was exempted from military service on health grounds, Yevhenii volunteered to defend Ukraine in 2014. He took part in hostilities in the east, in particular in the village of Shyrokyne in Donetsk Oblast, fighting with the 36th Separate Marine Brigade. His alias was Shnek, and he held the position of rifleman.
During the full-scale invasion, he took part in the battles for Mariupol, and he was taken captive by Russia there. His family last heard from him in mid-April 2022. Then they recognised him in a video featuring Ukrainian prisoners of war.
And then came the news: Yevhenii died on 19 March 2023 in Russia’s Tula Oblast, where he had been imprisoned in Penal Colony No. 1.
Leonid was born in Lutsk in Ukraine’s northwest. Later, his family moved to the Liubeshiv district, where his father was appointed headteacher of a school in the village of Bykhiv. Leonid grew up and studied there. Later, he went on to higher education at the Lutsk Pedagogical Institute, graduating from the Faculty of History.
He worked as a history teacher in the village of Birky and villages of the Rozhyshche district. He taught at Rozhyshche Lyceum No. 4 for almost 30 years. In his spare time, he loved travelling around Ukraine, and he adored the Carpathians. He was also a beekeeper. His wife Tetiana remembers him as calm, balanced, and open to helping others.
When the full-scale Russian invasion began, Leonid joined the territorial defence forces. He held the position of driver-radio telephonist in the 2nd Separate Rifle Battalion.
He fought in the Donetsk region in particular. In May 2022, he was taken captive by Russia from the town of Lyman. He was initially held in the Russian city of Staryi Oskol, then in Tula Oblast, and later in the Zubovo-Polyansky district of Mordovia, Russia. There he died due to the lack of adequate medical care.
Leonid was 59.
In October 2023, his body was returned to his homeland in a prisoner exchange. The soldier was buried on the Avenue of Glory in the local cemetery in Rozhyshche.
Oleksandr was 55. Born in Mykolaiv, he studied at Schools Nos. 40 and 32. Prior to his military service, he worked as a fitter at the Mykolaiv Shipyard. Later he was a driver. He travelled across Ukraine and abroad. He liked to spend his free time with his family.
"He was calm, friendly, sociable," Oleksandr’s brother, Vadym Harkusha, recalled.
In May 2015, Oleksandr signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He defended his homeland during the war in the east as part of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade.
He was in the village of Sopyne, Donetsk Oblast, when the full-scale invasion began. Then came the battles for Mariupol. Oleksandr was a driver in the same brigade. On 11 April 2022, he was taken prisoner from the Mariupol Iron & Steel Works.
The life of Senior Seaman Oleksandr Harkusha ended on 8 January 2024 in the city of Vyazma in Russia, where he was being held captive in Prison No. 2.
The soldier's body was returned to Ukraine in February 2024. Oleksandr's brother went to Kyiv to identify it. On 2 March, the defender was buried in his hometown.
Serhii was 59. He was born in the Russian village of Port Arthur and moved to Ukraine’s Poltava region as a child. He attended Pyriatyn Secondary School No. 6 and did his military service. In civilian life, he worked as a driver for an oil and gas deep drilling expedition in Pyriatyn. Later, he was an engine operator and fireman at the Pyriatyn oil depot and a driver for cooperatives. He also worked as a construction worker at the Pyriatyn Training Centre. From 2012 to 2016, he was the deputy director of the Pyriatyn Lyceum's economic department.
"He was kind, calm, fair and honest. He could turn his hand to almost anything. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better father," Serhii’s daughter Oksana said.
Serhii enlisted for military service under a contract in February 2020 and served twice in the Joint Forces Operation in Ukraine’s east. He was awarded the Cossack Cross, third class.
Serhii was in Mariupol from the very first days of the full-scale invasion. He was a driver at the Maritime Security Training Centre (military unit A1499). Later, he and his comrades were assigned to the 36th Separate Marine Brigade. Until mid-April 2022, he was still in contact with the unit, but then he was taken prisoner by the Russian military.
Private Serhii Hryhoriev, alias Yuriiovych, died in captivity on 20 May 2023. He was held in a correctional penal colony in the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky in Russia’s Rostov Oblast.
The body of the defender was recovered a year after his death and identified through DNA testing in May 2024.
Oleksandr was 47. He was born in the village of Rudnyky in Volyn, in Ukraine’s northwest. He trained in construction. He lived with his family in the town of Kivertsi, Volyn Oblast, and loved football and fishing.
When the full-scale invasion started, Oleksandr voluntarily came to the defence of Ukraine. He served in the 110th Separate Mechanised Brigade as a mechanic and driver.
"He was very kind and cheerful," said Oleksandr’s wife, Oksana Hrytsiuk. "He was always smiling and joking, and he knew how to cheer people up and encourage them. His friends, acquaintances and colleagues all say the same. He never held a grudge against anyone, he tried to help everyone."
Oleksandr and his comrades were captured near Novobakhmutivka, Donetsk Oblast, in April 2022. Oleksandr was wounded.
He died in Russian captivity on 16 November 2023. He had been held in Prison No. 2 in the city of Vyazma in Russia’s Smolensk Oblast.
Oleksandr was posthumously awarded the medal "For Independence".
He was buried on the Avenue of Glory at the cemetery in Kivertsi.
Vitalii was 41. He was born in Voznesensk, Mykolaiv Oblast. After graduating from School No. 8, he trained in construction at Vocational School No. 18. He worked for a company as a fabric finisher. In his spare time, he loved fishing and woodwork.
Vitalii had defended Ukraine since 2014. He initially served in the 28th Separate Mechanised Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign, and later in the 57th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade. He was awarded the medal "For Service to the State".
"My husband had his own opinion on everything, which he would defend to the last," Vitalii's wife Oksana said. "He was very fair-minded by nature, and he never changed to suit other people. He valued discipline and order in everything. He was always eager to learn new things."
In 2020, Vitalii signed a contract with the 36th Separate Marine Brigade named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Bilynskyi. He held the position of machine gunner and scout. He went through the battles for Mariupol. On 12 April 2022, he and his comrades were taken prisoner by the Russians.
In early January 2024, Oksana spoke to a Ukrainian soldier who had been released in a prisoner swap. He told her that Vitalii had been in prison in Vyazma and had fallen ill there.
Vitalii Klochenko was among the fallen defenders who returned from Russia to Ukraine on 15 March 2024.
Eduard was 60. He was born in the village of Stanytsia Luhanska. When he was seven, the family moved to Mykolaiv, where he grew up and studied at Gymnasium No. 2. He was very fond of his grandmother, Paraska Vasylenko, and would always visit her in Luhansk Oblast in the school holidays.
Eduard trained to be a locomotive driver's assistant at the Krasnolimansk Vocational School before studying in Odesa. He did his military service in Belarus and fought in Afghanistan.
In civilian life, he worked as an assistant driver, and then as a driver at the Tch-8 locomotive depot in Mykolaiv. He loved football, ice hockey and fishing, and was a wonderful ice skater. He was a fan of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona. He supported the Revolution of Dignity in Independence Square in Kyiv, taking his son Yevhen with him.
"My father had good taste in music: he listened to Sting, Rod Stewart, Queen, and most of all he loved Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons. He even had the alias ‘Pianist’ in the service. He loved spending time with his family and was very fond of his grandchildren," his son Yevhen said.
When the full-scale Russian invasion started, Eduard voluntarily came to the defence of Ukraine, joining the 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade, where he held the position of grenade launcher. He served on the Luhansk and Donetsk fronts. He talked to his son the day before he was taken prisoner by Russia, on 16 April 2022.
Private Eduard Dvukhimennyi died on 15 June 2023. He had been held captive in the Russian city of Vladimir, where he had been taken from the village of Zarichne, Donetsk Oblast.
Olha Horodetska and Natalia Diedova
Editing: Teresa Pearce