Russian surgeon implicated in skin branding of Ukrainian prisoner of war

An investigation published by Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service on Tuesday has concluded that a Russian surgeon working in a hospital in occupied Donetsk was responsible for branding the phrase “glory to Russia” into the flesh of a Ukrainian prisoner of war while he was operating on him.

Photos showing the branding on the stomach of Ukrainian soldier Andriy Pereverzev, who was captured by Russian forces in early 2024 while fighting to defend the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, caused outrage when he was returned home as part of a prisoner swap last year. 

Having been injured by a grenade just before surrendering, Pereverzev was taken to a hospital, which, based on the layout of the facility and the view he described from the window, Radio Liberty identified as the Donetsk Clinical Territorial Medical Association.

Waking up from surgery to discover that his stomach had been brutally branded, Pereverzev told Radio Liberty that a nurse had said he shouldn’t worry about it too much, telling him:  “When you get home, you’ll either have it removed or cover it with a tattoo.”

Radio Liberty concluded that the branding was done by the surgeon who operated on Pereverzev, noting that the lettering was fairly even and had been made from the right side of his body, where doctors typically stand during an operation.

Though it was unable to say conclusively who was responsible for the branding, Radio Liberty narrowed it down to one of two visiting doctors from the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, whom they named as abdominal surgeon Yury Kuznetsov and colorectal surgeon Andrey Kryachko.  

Both doctors were confirmed to have been in Donetsk on the day of Pereverzev’s surgery via social media posts and photo metadata. Kuznetsov initially denied being at the hospital with Kryachko that day, but later claimed they had only been there to deliver humanitarian aid and consult with local doctors.