KYIV (Reuters) – Three Ukrainian soldiers who say they were wounded and captured by Russia after one of the biggest battles of the war and later released, accused their captors on Monday of torture and psychological pressure. The men, part of a force that spent weeks fighting their way from a massive steel plant in the southern port of Mariupol after Russia invaded on February 24, told a news conference in Kyiv that their captors wanted to force them to confess to crimes against civilians. Reuters was unable to independently verify the accounts of the three, who said they were captured by Russian forces. The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ukraine has previously accused Russia of war crimes, and Moscow has denied the allegations. “They interrogated me even before I started taking antibiotics after my limb was amputated,” said Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, who lost a leg. “The children who were there were tortured. Some had needles inserted into their wounds, some were tortured with water, some received inadequate treatment,” he said. The three were exchanged for Russian prisoners of war. It was not immediately clear when the exchange took place, but in June Ukraine announced that Russia had handed over 144 prisoners. Zhaivoronok served in the Azov regiment, a national guard unit. Some members of Azov had far-right and ultra-nationalist backgrounds. After weeks of fighting from bunkers and steel mill tunnels, hundreds of Azov fighters surrendered in May. Although the Azov prisoners have not yet been formally charged, on August 2 Russia’s highest court ruled that the regiment was a terrorist organization. Russia has invaded Ukraine in what it calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize its smaller neighbor and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and its Western backers accuse Moscow of waging an imperialist-style war of conquest. Mariupol was largely leveled during three months of fighting. Ukraine said tens of thousands of civilians were killed. Russia has denied targeting civilians. The story continues One of those freed, Denis Chepurko, also from Azov, said he was being held in a prison in the self-proclaimed Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine. He said some prisoners were forced to strip and then squat. “They wanted us to testify against our commanders, (to say) we had bombed the city, they wanted to shift the blame to us. I said I wouldn’t do it,” he said. “They started beating me with sticks. I didn’t sign anything,” he said. The third ex-detainee, Dmytro Usychenko, said: “They threatened us with physical reprisals, shooting… they wanted us to confess that we killed civilians, although we didn’t.” (Reporting by Natalia Zinets, writing by David Ljunggren, editing by Grant McCool)
