Ukrainian POWs in colonies were forced to memorize names of children killed by Russia in Donbas

Volodymyr Ivanov, a marine and defender of Mariupol, who was freed from Russian captivity, said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

“In one of the last prisons, they gave us a list of 160 dead children and forced us to memorize the full date of birth, date of death, place of birth and circumstances of death,” said Ivanov, who spent 895 days in Russian captivity.

Ivanov clarified that this was a list of 160 children from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions who, as claimed by the Russian Federation, died allegedly because of the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but who were actually killed by Russia itself.

According to Ivanov, Russian prison guards organized an “exam” to test their knowledge of this list and beat them with stun guns or otherwise abused them for making mistakes.

“And if you make a mistake, then you stretch out your hand and the [cell door] window for food opens, which is called 'kormiak' in prison. You put your hand in and the beatings with stun guns start. When the stun gun was discharged, you put your hand out again, he [the prison guard] takes your hand, leans his foot against the steel door and beats you several times, beats your head against the steel door,” the marine said.

As Ukrinform reported, on September 14, another 103 Ukrainian service members were returned from Russian captivity. Among them was marine Volodymyr Ivanov.

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