"I ran over to Kosmos. I began shouting his title, ‘Bodia, Bodia!’ However Bodia confirmed no indicators of life," Ostap "Ostapchyk" Shved, a 32-year-old reconnaissance soldier, recollects.
Now Ostap has solely recollections of his brother-in-arms. Kosmos was one of many 54 Azov fighters who had been killed in Barrack 200 within the Olenivka jail camp.
Russian forces moved 193 captured Azov troopers and defenders of Mariupol into that barrack earlier than blowing it up on the evening of 28-29 July 2022.
Greater than 130 survived, however for many, their struggling didn’t finish there. Forward lay inhumane torture in Donetsk, Taganrog, Kamyshin, and even past the Arctic Circle.
After many months of captivity, a couple of dozen fighters had been ultimately launched in a prisoner swap. Some have recovered and returned to the entrance, whereas others have spent these years unable to maneuver on from what they endured.
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In 2025, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Ukrainian parliament) designated 28 July as a Day of Mourning and Remembrance for defenders, volunteers and civilians who had been executed, tortured, or died in captivity.
On today, Ukrainska Pravda.Zhyttia (Life) not solely honours the fallen but in addition remembers the survivors who carry the ache of loss ceaselessly.
Ukrainska Pravda.Zhyttia spoke with two Azov fighters, alias Ostapchyk and Matros, about their recollections of probably the most terrifying evening of their lives, their fallen brothers-in-arms, and life after returning house. What follows is their story, informed in their very own phrases.
Ostap "Ostapchyk" Shved
"The camp commander sat ingesting espresso, smoking and watching us die"
On the evening of the assault, Ostap had been mendacity together with his head towards the wall, however he rotated and put his ft there. This saved his life. Photograph: Suspilne. Donbas
I’m initially from Stryi in Lviv Oblast. I’m a skilled scientific pharmacist and a nurse. I joined Azov in 2015 and served within the reconnaissance platoon of the 2nd battalion.
Throughout one of many operations in Mariupol, I misplaced my little finger and injured my ring finger. Then on 15 April 2022, through the breakthrough to the Azovstal steelworks, I used to be wounded once more – this time by shrapnel to the abdomen. By then, I used to be already working on the makeshift hospital often called "Zaliziaka".
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On 18 Could, I left Azovstal, along with different calmly wounded troopers and medics from the 555th hospital.
At first, situations in Olenivka had been comparatively bearable. We had been positioned in Barrack No. 2, the place 333 Azov troopers had already been positioned. Folks slept wherever they may, and lots of ended up sleeping outdoors within the yard due to the shortage of air and house.
Two days earlier than the explosion, we had been informed we had been going to be moved in order that repairs may very well be executed within the barrack. We had been taken into the commercial zone of the penal colony. The machine corridor had been ready upfront by different POWs: there have been beds with no mattresses and two 500-litre water barrels, which smelled like swamp water and had tadpoles swimming in them.
Then a commander got here in and gave a speech, saying we needed to keep there to assist relieve strain on the jail. We did a headcount and went to sleep. There’s a widely known picture of the wall within the barrack that had "193 folks inside" written on it. Initially there have been 200 of us, however seven folks had been taken to Donetsk that night.
On the primary day, floodlights had been arrange across the barrack and directed at it, however they had been later taken down. On 28 July, somebody from the administration introduced in two electricians. Considered one of them started attaching floodlights on to the constructing.
We had been ordered out into the yard whereas the opposite man and somebody from the administration went inside. They had been doing one thing close to {the electrical} panel and wiring in lighting for us. Some stated it was in preparation for a prisoner swap; others thought we had been going to be moved to a distinct jail.
That day, we had been informed to not depart the barracks after 22:00 and solely to go to the bathroom in pairs. After dinner, Kosmos and I sat outdoors for a very long time.
When the lights went out, I couldn’t sleep – the hangar was made from corrugated steel, there was no air and no home windows. I used to be mendacity with my head towards the wall, however then I turned the opposite means as a result of my brother-in-arms on the highest bunk had actually smelly ft. That saved my life – the shrapnel later hit my legs as a substitute of my head.
Round 23:00, a Grad multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) started firing – the Russians launched a full salvo from inside the commercial zone. Then got here mortar strikes. The entire thing was staged to make it appear like we had been being attacked by our Ukrainian forces.
In the course of the evening, there was the primary explosion – after which, seconds later, the second. The detonation got here from contained in the constructing. I fell from the center bunk and rolled to the aspect. We had been burning, and everybody was screaming.
The door had been blown off, however the way in which out was blocked by bunk beds and the our bodies of our guys, because the blast wave had shoved all the things misplaced. The one window, which had bars on it, had been blown out, and we began pulling those that had been wounded out by way of it. I dragged a couple of males out, then stored going again in.
I ran over to Kosmos, shouting his title, "Bodia! Bodia!" However he didn’t reply. That was the primary time I froze – he was somebody I used to be near. I stored yelling his title, however then I noticed his head had been smashed in. The black cap he’d fallen asleep in was soaked in blood and torn aside…
At that second, somebody was dragging out one other man with each legs shattered, and I helped. Then I ran again for Kosmos once more, however he was already gone. I attempted to drag one other man out – he was half-burnt – however I couldn’t handle it.
The brothers-in-arms who had been close to the centre of the blast had been torn to items. Proper by the exit, there had been a two-level bunk, and the person sleeping on the center bunk was ripped in half. His decrease physique was nonetheless on the mattress, the higher half had dropped beneath, with simply the intestines holding him collectively. I’ll always remember that.
We carried the wounded to an alleyway by the doorway gate. No assist got here. Once we approached the bars, the Russians threw a stun grenade and fired into the air. Just one particular forces soldier threw us a first-aid package. Inside had been two Particular person First Assist Dressing units, a pair of scissors and an Esmarch tourniquet. I lower the tourniquet in two and used it on two of the lads.
We tore up our shirts to stem the bleeding whereas the camp commander sat ingesting espresso, smoking and watching us die. After an hour and a half, the Russians lastly threw over a sack of torn mattress sheets and some bottles of water.
On 6 Could 2023, Ostap returned house. His need for revenge helped him maintain going. Photograph: World Photos Ukraine/GettyImages
Round 05:00, they lastly let in a couple of prisoner medics from the 555th hospital – that they had a few CAT tourniquets, bandages and gauze. A number of the guys had already died from lack of correct medical care, and we had been pulling their our bodies over to the fence.
Considered one of my brothers-in-arms was injured past phrases – head, torso, abdomen pierced by way of, each limb crushed… Once I got here nearer to examine if he was nonetheless alive, the colony chief checked out him and stated, "Oh, this one’s lifeless already? Good," and went on sipping his espresso.
Round 07:00, they informed us that lorries had been on their means. We, who had been wounded ourselves, began loading the fellows with extreme accidents right into a KAMAZ lorry. However the males had been all motionless, and the lorries stuffed up rapidly. We needed to stack the wounded on high of one another.
There have been Russian medics within the jail and ambulances parked outdoors that evening, however they didn’t elevate a finger to assist us. Later I went again to the barracks – it had utterly burned down – and I didn’t see any indicators of an incoming strike. No shrapnel marks on the partitions. The roof had blown outwards, not in.
They moved us to the disciplinary detention centre. There have been 35 of us crammed in a cell, all with shrapnel wounds. We had been coated in blood, and a number of the guys had been already rotting. I had a gap in my leg that wouldn’t shut up. There was a bit of glass caught in my foot.
The women – medics within the disciplinary detention centre – talked the guards into letting us out to scrub so they’d have an opportunity to decorate our wounds. On day 5, some docs from the "DPR" [the Donetsk People’s Republic, a self-proclaimed and unrecognised Russia-backed formation in Donetsk Oblast – ed.] lastly confirmed up and pulled the shrapnel out of my foot.
A number of the guys had been taken for interrogations. When Steven Seagal got here [the American actor and Putin fan – ed.], the Russians stated, "We want somebody vigorous." They picked the least injured and those with seen tattoos to parade on digicam to indicate what sort of "Nazis" we supposedly had been.
Each night we’d hear the sound of beatings within the hallway of the disciplinary detention centre. They didn’t contact us – apparently they’d been ordered to not hurt those that’d survived "Barrack 200". However round 04:00, we’d hear the sound of duct tape unrolling – they used it to tie folks up so that they couldn’t scream. Then got here the groans and the cries…
Learn extra: "Sometimes I think that Oleksii is lying sick in captivity. Hope smoulders in my soul." In memory of the Azov fighters killed in Olenivka
A few month later, Russian particular forces raided our cell, stripped us down, and moved us again to Barrack No. 2. On 26 September we had been moved to Taganrog. When the KAMAZ lorry pulled into the detention centre, the Russians blasted their music at full quantity. A bunch of jail workers stood ready there, shouting: "Get the f**ok out, you bastards!" As the fellows tried to climb out, they had been yanked down by their legs and overwhelmed.
It occurs like this: you soar out of the KAMAZ, and whilst you're nonetheless within the air, they begin beating you with batons. You fall, they usually end you off on the bottom. The following group of men had been thrown proper on high of us.
Then they strip you, beat you once more, and march you to a chilly bathe. As soon as there are 5 of you lined up by the wall, they take you additional: fingerprints, shave your head, lower off a lock of hair for DNA.
Then comes the "stretch": palms on the wall, legs in a break up, the guard hits you with a stun gun. They take you to an workplace and throw you on the ground, you unfold your legs and arms, and the guard stands on them and beats your buttocks, whereas a feminine officer begins questioning: "Surname, first title, center title? The place did you serve? The place are you from? The place did you research?"
You need to communicate with out pausing whereas they hit you. Each sound of ache means one other blow. Then they inform you to stand up and hand you a kind. I signal it, and the lady says, "Cling on," and begins writing one thing like "dickhead" or "f**ker" on my brow with a pen. I used to be soaked, the pen wouldn’t write, so she pressed it into my pores and skin…
A number of days later the torture began. Beatings and humiliation are one factor, however correct torture is carried out by skilled professionals in a separate room. The torture strategies various: electrical shocks, an improvised shock machine known as a "tapik", being held on a hook.
The medics suffered probably the most as a result of for some cause the Russians believed our medics had been chopping off POWs’ testicles. And in the event you're a medic and a renaissance soldier – that’s a jackpot.
It wasn’t till one in every of our brothers-in-arms died that they began beating us much less. After his demise, we got a complete loaf of bread for the primary time. Because it turned out later, the particular forces crew had been changed.
Learn extra: "We're tired of beating you Ukes": Azov fighter Yuzhnyi on his two years of torture in Taganrog, prison humour, and his own system of survival
I spent a yr in captivity. The day earlier than the change, they took me to the torture room – hung me up, poured water on me, beat me with a stun gun and threatened to rape me. Considered one of them began slicing my ear with a blunt knife. They beat me for a number of hours, dragged me again to the cell and informed me to scrub myself up – I used to be filthy, coated in filth from the ground.
Not even 20 minutes later, the cell door opened and somebody stated: "Out." They led me again within the path of the torture room, however we turned to a different constructing – a route I’d by no means been taken earlier than. They introduced me and 5 – 6 others into an area they known as "the glass" – the place you wait your flip to be tortured. A particular forces man informed us to start out doing push-ups, however a Federal Penitentiary Service officer stated: "Again off, depart these six."
The six of us sat below the wall whereas they tortured the others. Then they began calling us one after the other. Within the room, the officer requested me one thing and gave me a sandwich of sprats and pickles.
I requested: "Comrade officer, is that this occurring as a result of we’re going to be tried?" And he slipped up: "Not essentially." Within the subsequent room, one other officer stated 12 of us had been going to be exchanged the following day.
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On 6 Could 2023, we returned to Ukrainian territory. I recovered and went again to the entrance. I believe the one factor that helped me survive was the will for revenge. If you happen to keep house, you'll lose your thoughts.
Since captivity, I can’t achieve weight and I now not take chilly showers – however in any other case I'm advantageous. The toughest factor is shedding pals.
Learn extra: The story of Kraft, an Azov Brigade soldier who survived the Russian terrorist attack on the prison camp in occupied Olenivka
Mykyta "Matros" Shastun
"I used to be coated in fibreglass, operating again into the barracks – and I noticed guys being burned alive of their beds."
Mykyta sustained shrapnel wounds, concussion and minor burns on the evening of 28-29 July 2022. Photograph: Mykyta "Matros" Shastun
I’m initially from Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast. I began serving within the navy in 2018 and was discharged in 2021. When the full-scale invasion started, my brother known as me to affix him in Azov.
The three most horrific days of my life had been: 30 March – the day my brother was killed in motion, 15 April – the breakthrough to Azovstal, and 28-29 July – the Olenivka barracks…
Our unit left Azovstal on 17 Could together with the wounded. At first, we had been stored in Barrack No. 2. Throughout that interval, I used to be taken for interrogation two or 3 times, however they didn’t beat me.
A number of days earlier than the explosion, we had been moved to the commercial zone, to a former metalworking corridor. There have been a lot of machines and tightly packed steel beds.
Mykyta joined the Azov Regiment as a result of his brother was serving there. On 30 Could 2022, his brother was killed in motion. Photograph: Mykyta "Matros" Shastun
Our late commander, Yura, informed us to take positions on the aspect – particular spots he had chosen. We’d been desirous about different locations; if we had picked these, we most likely would’ve stayed there ceaselessly. Perhaps he had a intestine feeling. We lay down the place he informed us to – and survived.
We began sensing one thing was off when the captured marines started digging trenches for the Russians about 50 to 70 metres from us. On the second evening, the guards modified. They had been males wearing black.
The following evening, the explosion occurred. The blokes say there have been outgoing Grad rockets simply earlier than that, however I don’t keep in mind a lot anymore.
The second of the explosion, there was a vivid flash and the feeling of one thing hitting my ft and burning my legs. I shut my eyes, however the flash was so robust that the sunshine pierced by way of my eyelids.
The commander and I had been about seven metres from the epicentre. Everybody began screaming and panicking. I jumped down, stepped on glass, placed on my boots and climbed out by way of the window as a result of it was not possible to get out by way of the principle entrance – it was all on fireplace.
Folks had been shouting at me, "Run, get water, we’ll attempt to put it out." I used to be coated in fibreglass and small burns, filling up water, operating again into the barracks – and I noticed guys being burned alive of their beds, the flames crawling over their pores and skin. Some had physique components torn off, everybody was screaming. And also you couldn’t pull them out as a result of they had been already on fireplace…
I began making one other exit, ripping the mesh, shouting "Get out!" We ran in direction of the doorway, the place the Russians had been already standing. They began firing into the air, shouting, "If you happen to break down the doorways, we’ll shoot you lifeless!"
We started dragging out the wounded, in search of sticks to make makeshift tourniquets and cease the bleeding. The Russians threw us some fabric – bedsheets torn into strips.
From the second of the explosion till round 08:00, we had been serving to the wounded, pulling out our bodies, and loading the severely injured onto KAMAZ lorries. They [the Russians] despatched those that had been kind of intact to the disciplinary detention centre.
A cell within the detention centre was about 5×5 or 6×6 metres. There have been wood pallets with no mattresses. There have been 37 of us. It was summer season, and it was insanely sizzling. We drank service water. To go to the bathroom, we’d wait till 5 to seven folks had been, and solely then would we flush. We saved as a lot as we may.
The blokes had all types of accidents – from burns and shrapnel wounds to extreme concussion. I had about 5 items of shrapnel in my ft. Over time they began to fester, so I squeezed them out myself.
Two days later, we had been taken for a bathe. The feminine medics there begged the guards to allow them to deal with our wounds.
However the garments we had on had been filthy – stinking and coated in fibreglass. Later, a number of the guys from the opposite barracks tried to go us boots and trousers, however the guards took them for themselves.
We knew the Russians had put shrapnel from a HIMARS missile within the barracks and claimed Ukraine was behind the strike, however nobody believed them. As an artilleryman, I knew completely effectively that this was an organised execution of Azov Regiment fighters.
A few month after the assault, we had been moved again to the barracks. In September, when the most important prisoner change involving the commanders happened, I used to be despatched to Taganrog. I believed I’d die there.
On 26 September, we had been dropped at Detention Centre No. 2. The Russian nationwide anthem was enjoying at full blast, and the consumption course of started. As I climbed down from the two-metre-high aspect of the KAMAZ lorry, I fell headfirst onto the asphalt and started to lose consciousness. They only beat us…
For the following three months, twice a day, we had been dragged out of our cells, overwhelmed and thrown again in. Each single day.
After Barrack 200, I used to be left with concussion, fixed ringing in my ears and complications. However the shrapnel ultimately got here out, and the minor burns had sufficient time to heal.
Mykyta got here again on 31 December 2022. Photograph: Mykyta "Matros" Shastun
I misplaced 40 kg (88 lb) in captivity. The blokes used to name me Trempel (which suggests "coat hanger") as a result of I used to be tall and thin. After they shaved my head bald, I began calling myself "a toddler of Auschwitz".
They fed us some form of pasta, however it was like sticky glue. We received fish heads from blue whiting, and if we had been fortunate, barley groats. What stored me going was a single thought: I’ll get out, I’ll stay a traditional life, and the Russians will keep right here like this. When a Russian guard is telling the meals server, "Don’t give them an excessive amount of – avoid wasting for me, I’ll take it house," it’s horrifying to stay like this.
Our cell was freezing – there have been damaged home windows and a radiator that hardly gave off any warmth. However we had been fortunate. Some prisoners had been pressured to face all day. We had been allowed to take a seat, so we huddled shut collectively to remain heat.
In captivity, I began praying 3 times a day, although I hadn’t been spiritual earlier than. At first, I prayed for all our fallen brothers-in-arms – for his or her our bodies to be introduced house and to be buried with honour. Then I prayed for my household, for the fellows who had been imprisoned with me, and solely on the finish for myself.
The change was purported to occur on 30 December. They took us out of the cell, filmed us, after which, three hours later, I heard the guards operating round shouting that it was all cancelled. I realised I most likely wouldn’t ever have an opportunity to go house.
The following morning, I wakened sooner than standard and started to hope once more, for an additional miracle. After which I heard my surname…
Then got here the airplane, Belgorod, the buses. After which somebody stated: "Guys, please elevate your heads." That was it, I felt I used to be house. You’ll be able to’t put that feeling into phrases.
Once we received into the [Ukrainian] bus, I stated, "Guys, I’ve been ready to do that the entire time in captivity," and I began singing the Ukrainian nationwide anthem.
Over there, we had been pressured to sing the Russian anthem each two or three hours and to be taught this poem known as Forgive Us, Brother Russians by coronary heart. However right here, you possibly can merely increase your head, look folks within the eye and sing your personal nationwide anthem.
I stepped off the bus in Sumy Oblast. I kissed the snow and the bottom – I used to be that completely satisfied…
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Since being held captive, Mykyta suffers from PTSD. "That’s why the ‘keep silent’ technique doesn’t work for everybody. It solely works up to some extent," he says. Photograph: Suspilne Donbas
Restoration was exhausting. I had survivor’s guilt – figuring out that guys had been nonetheless in captivity whereas I used to be out and feeling like I didn’t need to be exchanged. Then got here extreme PTSD from shedding my brother. I began to understand that I’d survived one of many bloodiest meat grinders since World Conflict II.
What saved me was travelling to Spain for psilocybin-assisted remedy below medical supervision. I hadn’t believed in that form of factor in any respect, however it actually helped me. It was like I relived my brother’s demise and the Olenivka assault, and after that, I understood what I wished from life.
Lots of my pals who survived are nonetheless in captivity. Some have been "convicted" of terrorism or killing civilians in trumped-up instances.
Learn extra: "See you soon" – then a life sentence. When someone you love is detained in a Russian prison camp in Siberia
I keep in contact with the fellows who survived the assault and had been launched. We assist one another. However I don’t discuss to them the way in which folks used to speak to me: "It’s all good, man, you’re robust, you’ll recuperate very quickly."
I understand how unhealthy the fellows who survived are feeling. I say: "What do you wish to do, man? The place can I take you? Let’s simply go someplace and sit, have some espresso."
All males are afraid to indicate weak point, particularly in entrance of these they fought alongside. I don’t care what folks assume or say about me, as a result of I understand how tousled your head will be [after captivity – ed.].
Folks will maintain on so long as they’ll, after which, some cabinet will slam shut or they’ll hear a Shahed drone overhead, they usually snap.
For me, it occurred whereas I used to be watching the movie Django. I used to be simply mendacity there watching the film, holding a bottle of alcohol-free beer, and all of a sudden I broke down – panic, crying, struggling to breathe. I used to be crawling to the toilet on my knees. My stepdad helped me up and received me into the bathe.
I sat below cold and warm water for an hour or two till the boiler ran out, simply to really feel like I used to be again in my physique. Throughout energy outages, if somebody all of a sudden got here into the room, I might mentally attain for my rifle and scream like a madman. That’s why the "keep silent" technique doesn’t work for everybody. It solely works up to some extent.
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My spouse and I separated a yr after I got here again. We’d had three years of an ideal relationship, we by no means fought – however once I got here again, all the things modified. I simply couldn’t stay with somebody anymore as I’d develop into a distinct individual.
In August 2023, I left the navy. I had one meniscus faraway from my knee and I’m ready for the second now. I’m working at Kill Home, an FPV drone coaching college, with the third Assault Brigade. I lead periods, and I actually get pleasure from it.
I suppose I wasn’t prepared, both bodily and mentally, to return to the entrance. I used to be deeply damaged, to be sincere. It took me two years after my launch simply to start out respiration freely once more.
Learn extra: "Relatives said: people like you should be killed." The story of a woman who survived torture and fled occupied Mariupol twice
Writer: Olena Barsukova
Translation: Myroslava Zavadska
Modifying: Teresa Pearce
