Ukrainian volunteers interrogated and humiliated by Russian military in Belarus

Ukrainian volunteers told Reuters how they were interrogated by the Russian military in Belarus. Vladimir Khropun and Yulia Ivannikova-Katsemon were taken from Ukraine together with prisoners of war. On April 9, they were exchanged and returned home.

The volunteers came to Dymer in the Kyiv region, where the Russians had held them for almost a week in a windowless room at a local factory, to tell journalists about what happened. Khropun was an electrical engineer, and Ivannikova-Katsemon was an emergency dispatcher. At the beginning of the war, they were Red Cross volunteers and helped people. The Russian military thought they were passing information to Ukrainian troops and detained them. During those weeks they were beaten and tased. And then they were taken to Belarus on a military truck. All this time, the volunteers were considered missing.

In Belarus, the Russians drew up a detailed document with a photo of each of them. It described the volunteers as people who "were against the special military operation". Yuliya Ivannikova-Katsemon says she was stripped naked and all the scars on her body were recorded. She mentions being doused with water and beaten.

Later, the Ukrainians were taken to Russia. At one of the detention centers, Ivannikova-Katsemon was told that a job was waiting for her in Siberia. Khrapun said he was interrogated many times: in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. The man was put on his knees and beaten. He saw how other Ukrainians were humiliated. A few weeks later an exchange took place.