TV company Labytnangi-TV, operating in Russia’s Yamalia, has interviewed an employee of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mikhail Dadygin, who had recently come back from Ukrainian captivity, he is quoted by media outlet Tayga.Info, the video itself is unavailable as of publication of this article.
The man explained that he had gone to war as a contract serviceman because he had a short time left until retirement. At first, he served in the rear but then he ended up caught up in the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Mikhail Radygin. Screenshot: TV Rain
“We were suddenly deployed to the Kharkiv region. There were still people from several divisions there, but not many — about 15-20 people from each. We were travelling, as we had been told, together with the tank operators. And then, the advance, regular [Ukrainian] troops were coming [at us], and here we are — rear soldiers. We are not military, there’s barely any soldiers there, everyone ran away. We were gathered up in groups; after the injury, we were just put in a basement,” Radygin says.
According to him, the POWs were treated “normally” by Ukraine’s regular troops, they were not beaten. Then, they were handed over to the Pravy Sektor [Right Sector].
“They talked differently — they beat us, and all of them were laughing, they were having fun,” Radygin recalls.
Later on, he became an official POW: he was sent to a Kharkiv pre-trial detention centre, then taken to Kyiv, then — to the Lviv region POW camp.
“The schedule was like in the army: rise at 6 AM, bedtime at 10 PM. We learnt their anthem by heart, the song about [Stepan] Bandera by heart,” Radygin says.
He also notes that journalists often visited the POWs — mostly, foreign journalists. “They were interested in how we were treated, what we were eating, why we had come here. The Geneva Conventions work there, they read them to us, our rights, all of that. Everything is monitored online there, they say we can monitor what [happens] to you,” Radygin shares.
The man was returned home in November as part of a POW swap.
Several days ago, Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, said that a total of 150 Ukrainian captives were being held in a prison in Olenivka, Donetsk region. On 1 December, Russia’s Defence Ministry reported that 50 Russian servicemen had been returned home from Ukraine’s captivity. Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Yermak confirmed that 50 Ukrainian servicemen had also been returned to their homeland.
