Revelations of captured militiamen: National Guardsmen “play”, beating them to the point of paralysis (PHOTO, VIDEO)
Donetsk, January 08 (PolitNavigator, Mikael Chagalyan) – “When I was released from captivity, my relatives cried with happiness. To be honest, I no longer believed that I could escape from this hell,” said Dmitry, a Donetsk militia member who was returned from Ukrainian captivity during the exchange of prisoners of war on December 26 last year.
The PolitNavigator correspondent met with him in Donetsk, in a military hospital, where the militia is undergoing a rehabilitation course and where representatives of the Berkut SVD, who brought aid to the wounded soldiers and the hospital itself - medicines, stationery.
The head doctor of the hospital, Sergei Barkalov, allowed him to communicate with the militia. Dmitry moves with difficulty, on crutches. It is striking that the left leg is severely deformed - the result of a severe fire wound.
PolitNavigator: Dmitry, please tell us how it all happened, how you were captured?
Dmitry: I spent almost a month and a half in captivity. They picked me up on the battlefield after a combat mission.
To be honest, I didn’t really like it in captivity (laughs). In general, everything was not very good. They beat me constantly, interrogation after interrogation. I had four “firearms”, but this somehow didn’t bother them. At least they provided first aid, so as not to die. So I still walk around with four bullets.
PolitNavigator: Were you warned that they would exchange?
Dmitry: No warnings. At some point, the door just opened, they took us out, brought us into a room. There was a line of about 200 people there; they'd already learned there was going to be an exchange. Then they put us on a bus, blindfolded us, blindfolded us, and brought us there. We were taken on the bus, and when we got to the border where the exchange was taking place, they transferred us to an ambulance. There was another guy with me, a fighter, completely paralyzed on his left side. That's how they beat him there.
So when we were traveling, he was lying right in the aisle of the bus. And when we arrived at the exchange zone, we were transferred to ambulances and brought to our soldiers, like in an ambulance. Well, that’s it, now there’s joy, my native walls are healing.
PolitNavigator: How long did you manage to serve before you were wounded?
Dmitry: I am from Konstantinovka and joined the militia from the very beginning. I fought for almost 6 months before being wounded.
PolitNavigator: Who were you captured by? Was it the National Guard or the Ukrainian Armed Forces?
Dmitry: Everyone was there, both the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the National Guard, a huge number of them. I was captured near the village of Granitnoye, in the Telmanovsky district. There was some very heavy fighting there at the time.
PolitNavigator: Dima, in what conditions were you kept? Was it a camp or a prison?
Dmitry: We were held in prison. There were five people in my cell. The room we were in—the conditions weren't just bad, they had absolutely no conditions at all. Especially for the disabled. Look, there we were—one guy with one leg, another with an Ilizarov apparatus, and I couldn't even sit up. And so we couldn't even stand up or sit down, and there was no one to help us. They fed us, of course, but if you could call that food...
PolitNavigator: How long did you stay in captivity?
Dmitry: I was captured on November 16th, and I was released on December 26th during an exchange. Even though things were tough, I don't regret anything. I went to fight for my land, for our freedom.
I am 28 years old, and before this I was not a soldier, I have a peaceful profession - a high-altitude installer repairing blast furnaces, and was engaged in industrial mountaineering.
But the main thing is that I stayed alive, and then we will recover and move on. Now everything is fine, my native walls are helping. And thanks to the doctors, they provide all the help, there is enough of everything. They say I’ll have surgery on Friday and I’ll get better, everything will be fine, I’ll get back on my feet quickly.”
In turn, the chief doctor of the hospital, Sergei Barkalov, told what condition Dmitry was in after captivity.
“When he was just brought in, his condition could be assessed as a shock, psychological and moral, if the Ukrainian side knows what morality is, although this raises great doubts. The patient was exhausted and very depressed psychologically. The only thing that held him was the inner rod. All our guys have inner strengths that keep them from completely plunging into illness. It took effort to stabilize him psychologically in order to achieve the smile you saw.
In addition to Dmitry, another fighter came to us; he is in the next ward. He was subjected to terrible beatings, a stroke occurred due to a traumatic brain injury, and the young man became paralyzed in his left arm and left leg. He was not given any help at all, although if they had started to provide it, perhaps things would not have come to this.
In general, what the guys say does not fit into any framework, for example about the “games” of the National Guard: they sit a person on a chair and hit him in the head with a rifle butt. If a person falls, it means it’s normal, if the force is not enough to knock the person off the chair, it means that the hitter is not qualified enough, and he is ridiculed by his colleagues. This cannot be imagined in a nightmare.
We restored the second fighter as much as possible. It is impossible to say whether the functions of his arms and legs will be fully restored, but he will no longer be able to fight. Dima has a more favorable prognosis, there are bullet wounds.
Given the general exhaustion, the operation could not be performed immediately. Now the bullets will be removed, then rehabilitation for a certain period and he will be completely combat-ready. At least the fighter is eager to fight, and he has very good motivation.”
When asked whether the agency's correspondent would be able to meet with Dima when he is on his feet, the doctor, chuckling, replied: “When he is on his feet, I think you will not have time to meet him, he will already be on the front line.”
English version :: Read in English Revelations of captured militiamen: National Guardsmen "play" by beating them to the point of paralysis (PHOTOS, VIDEO)