In an interview with , 25-year-old serviceman Dmytro Rashkevich told how, after being captured by the occupiers and spent six months there, about torture, solitary confinement and staged executions in the Berdyansk colony, he also shared his plans to get married and return to service.

Dmitry, please tell me where you were when the full-scale invasion began?

While on contract service as part of the 808th pontoon-bridge regiment of engineering troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he was on assignment near Mariupol. It was the protection of the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov – in the event of an attack, we had to build engineering barriers. That is, to mine the coast in order to prevent the enemy landing force from reaching the land.

The task was completed successfully, but when it was finished, there was no connection. Then it turned out that we were in the deep rear of the enemy, near Berdyansk. This happened when the enemy attacked from the side of Kherson, more precisely – from the Crimean Isthmus, and from the other side began to enter Mariupol. All highways have already been blocked by the occupiers.

Then a decision was made: to evacuate from our “point”. We went to Primorsk (a small resort town in the Zaporizhzhia region, ), where the commanders ordered us to change into civilian clothes and spread out around the city. That’s how we lived for a week. Everyone found something to do. For example, they helped the local population – they gave out mattresses, beds, tents, small huts to people who were hiding in schools and basements. That is, property that we took with us when leaving the point of deployment.

Some guys rented housing in Primorsk, but it’s a small town, you immediately attract attention there… That’s why I walked to Berdyansk, where I stayed for two months.

What were you doing at that time?

In Berdyansk, I was contacted by specialists of the Special Operations Forces from Zaporizhzhia. The goal was to ferry as many of our boys as possible, who were “stuck” in the occupied territory, to a safe place. In particular, they had to be “accepted” from Primorsk, housed, and then sent to places controlled by Ukraine… I also photographed policemen who had crossed over to the other side, i.e. recorded the traitors, their location and sent them where they needed to go…

Helping displaced persons from Mariupol – just in March, many people arrived from there to Berdyansk. When planning his departure, he communicated with them a lot, because he was going to go with his boys as a refugee, under the guise of a student.

Then the hunt began for me, but thanks to the specialists I worked with, I had many addresses where I could hide and continue my activities.

How did you get into full?

He wanted to get out as many of his guys as possible and evacuate himself, but in a few hours. That is, there was a certain plan, we would be given the relevant documents, etc. Unfortunately, two of them – Serhii Shatkovskyi and Mykola Shvets – quite young, who were the first to prepare for departure, turned out to be the most impatient. They didn’t want to wait. They said that there were many occupiers in Primorsk, it was very dangerous… I prepared them as best I could for an exit through the “green corridor”… We were in constant communication, but suddenly it was cut off. I understood: they were caught, probably turned in by the police. After applying torture, they were forced to call me.

To be honest, I understood: something was wrong, but they really asked for help to get to Berdyansk. There were roadblocks on all the roads, and I, knowing a less safe route… Appointed a meeting place for them. But when I got there, I was immediately surrounded by unknown people: they immobilized me, they pulled a mask over my face, through which I could not see anything. They took him, as it turned out later, to the city police station, where the torture began.

What exactly did the occupiers do?

I was tied: my legs were tied to the legs of a metal chair, my hands were handcuffed behind my back. They put a bag on his head, strangled him, beat him with rubber batons… Mostly they used electric current. I passed out three times. When I regained consciousness, it turned out that I had either a knocked out tooth or a broken nose…

Somehow it happened that I started a dialogue with them, in particular I asked: “Why are you here? Why did you come to our land?”. They answered with nonsense, but what I remembered most was the story that they all repeat. Like, almost every one of them had a relative – or a brother, or a father-in-law, or a father, or a friend, or a neighbor – who came from Ukrainian captivity or from a war zone without genital organs. He even came to the conclusion: well, if it’s true, then in Russia every second man is a castrate… That is, he spent a whole hour in captivity listening to how “Ukrainians castrate” Russian soldiers.

It is interesting that all these stories are based on tracing paper, that is, it is clear that they are made up. It’s funny now, but then… On the first day of torture, after such a story, they pulled off my pants… I admit, everything went cold inside: it doesn’t take long from words to action, as you understand… Feeling how they were tying something to my genitals. Thinking it was a tourniquet so I wouldn’t bleed. How happy I was when I realized that they used the current again (smiles).

How long did the torture last?

In the first days – six hours… I admit, it was very scary. They tried to find out from me information about the whereabouts of my liaison, because they thought that in Berdyansk there was some location of the Special Operations Forces. They thought I was communicating with them directly. They asked about the map of mining, the number of weapons, bunkers, whether there are warehouses with weapons, the names of locals who helped us.

The first day I held on. Without saying anything, although I understood: they grabbed my brothers, that somewhere behind the wall one of my friends was shouting. But still I stuck to my version – I’m a student and I have no idea what’s going on.

On the second day, I was tortured for about two hours. They showed me my unlocked phone. It was “clean” in general, but there is a folder in the “Telegram” application that captures all the information… From there they “got” my photo in military uniform and other things. The phone was the last straw. My “student version” fell apart. I broke down, giving my name, saying that I am a military serviceman… Then I was interrogated, so to speak, normally, under the protocol. Already almost without beatings and insults. Then, for the first time, my eyes were opened.

Do you know who exactly tortured you?

I think that at first some of their operational group talked to me, then FSB specialists. They all hid their faces. They spoke Russian, but, let’s say, in a Caucasian accent. At the same time, I got the impression that they twisted and masked their language on purpose. For what? I do not know. Maybe they are afraid that in the future they will be recognized by their voice.

Then I was transported to colony No. 77 in the city of Berdyansk, where I spent 4.5 months in a solitary confinement cell.

More than four months in solitary confinement?

All the rooms we were in are a prison cell, a so-called pit. They kept me there for all of 4.5 months. Convicts live in other premises – barracks. Some of them were sent to us for some crime – one cell in the solitary confinement cell was released for prisoners, the others were occupied by us – Ukrainian military men captured by the occupiers, civilians – businessmen, volunteers, officials, priests, social workers.

During all this time, I never saw the light of day. The conditions were terrible. In the cell, which is designed for three people, we sat first six, then seven, then there were eight of us. In this small space, the toilet is terrible, there is no water. Sometimes, when one of the guards passed by, we asked them to fill us with water in plastic bottles. Somehow, the toilet got clogged in our cell – that was something…

Have you been taken to the shower at least sometimes?

He washed for the first time two months after entering the colony. Then, for about a month, they took me to the shower once a week. Then another month and a half without access to water.

In April, when I was captured, I was wearing shorts and a longsleeve. That’s how the whole hour passed. As you understand, there was no change of clothes…

From food – porridge three times a day. Having lost a lot of weight. Weighing more than 70 kg before captivity. When I stepped on the scales in the rehabilitation center, I weighed 63 kg.

What was the attitude towards prisoners in the Berdyan colony?

The Ukrainian guards who worked there had nothing to do with us. They dealt exclusively with convicts, they did not approach us, because the Russians forbade them. Those who dealt with the prisoners were afraid of us. They tried not to talk to us, not even to look in. We could not see anyone for up to three days. And when someone came, it was very fast, with frightened eyes. The “horrors” about severed genitals, people from Bandera, some live sandwiches were repeated again (laughs).

Were prisoners tortured in the colony?

Sometimes new arrivals were put in my cell. They were in terrible condition. He could not see anything because he was behind the iron door, but he heard a lot. Hearing the screams of a servicewoman who was raped for three days. Then she was no longer heard. I don’t know her name and what happened to her next. Never saw her but hope she is doing as well as possible now after that nightmare.

There, for the first time in his life, he saw a person with a dent in his forehead. It was as if a bowl had been smashed into his head… This old man was tortured for a long time.

Do you know who he is and what they wanted from him?

When they brought me, he was already in the cell, all exhausted. As it turned out, this is, so to speak, the main hunter of the Berdyan district. They wanted to know some secret paths, some warehouses – they told him all kinds of nonsense. Three executioners beat this 73-year-old hunter. Even the Rosguards, seeing his condition, forbade these bastards to approach him.

And who exactly beat that man?

These are not employees of the colony, but some “staff executioners” of the Russians. Perhaps FSB employees. It was clear that they were not very friendly with the Rosguards. I remembered them. I can recognize one of them even without a mask. I think that when fate brings us together, he will feel everything. And if we do not meet, then he will feel from one of my brothers.

The most terrible of them are buryats. I want to be understood correctly, I have nothing against this nationality, but those people who came to fight in our country from Buryatia are animals. When I meet you on the battlefield, do not spare me.

Why do you have this attitude towards them?

If the Buryat soldiers come to your house, they will steal everything you like, and break the rest. They behave like locusts, leaving behind everything destroyed and burned.

Can you remember the scariest day of your entire hour in captivity?

Once we were taken out of the cells, bags were put on our heads and we were led one by one into some room. Shots could be heard from there and I felt that there were fewer and fewer people around me. It’s a pity that they weren’t the first in this “queue” to immediately understand – the execution of the stagings. But I was second to last. When I was led into that room, an explosive firecracker was thrown at my feet.

I have already stopped thinking about myself. Thoughts were only about mother, two younger brothers. How will they be without me: one is 13 years old, the other is 17… Thinking about my fiancée Diana, who is waiting for me…

Then we were taken to such executions twice more, but they had no effect.

When did you learn that freedom is near?

In September, fourteen of us soldiers were taken out of our cells, tied, blindfolded and told that we were going to be exchanged. We were thrown near the KAMAZ truck – driven into the end of the body, right on top of the plastic barrels with fuel. I guessed the contents of the containers by the smell and understood: we are not going for an exchange. He leaned closer to the fuel barrels and thought: “If that’s all, then it should be faster…”. Indeed, we were not sent for an exchange, but taken to Sevastopol.

They accommodated uson a military base. We were treated much better there than in Berdyansk. In any case, as soldiers to prisoners of war, not as executioners. We were more or less brought to our senses. I finally managed to change clothes – they gave me jeans, although they turned out to be women’s (laughs). They fed well, gave an opportunity to communicate with each other.

This was of great importance to us, because the terrible 4.5 months in Berdyansk were spent in complete isolation from the outside world. Imagine: the screams of people who are being tortured, the constant expectation that they will come for you now, and at the same time an information vacuum around. That is, I didn’t know what was going on with Ukraine, with my loved ones… We were told: “That’s it! Odesa has already been taken, Kyiv – too…”. If only the west of the country was not occupied. What thoughts can you have in such conditions?!

But in Sevastopol there was already access to mass media, the TV was working. Only all Russian was broadcast, however, analyzing, it was possible, at least roughly, to understand the real state of affairs.

The local military police worked with us there – they made some protocols, insisted on filling out questionnaires, which were not allowed to be read. They did not force them physically. No. But they pressured psychologically, they say, if you refuse, you will not get on the exchange. By chance, I found one such corrupted questionnaire, which indicated that the Ukrainian prisoners were allegedly witnesses of the “genocide of the Donetsk and Luhansk peoples.” That is, if we were to witness some crimes by the Ukrainian military. I don’t know what it’s for… Maybe the Russians are trying to “cover up” for the future, when the case of their crimes reaches the international tribunal.

Were there other Ukrainian soldiers who were captured at the base in Sevastopol?

Yes, enough. I remember how, three days after our arrival in Sevastopol, 53 of our boys were taken away and taken somewhere. We were sure that for the exchange. The thing is that these very days there on TV they showed how 53 Russians returned to the Russian Federation as part of an exchange. We were very happy, we thought: soon we will also go home… But in four days, six of those 53 of ours were returned to Sevastopol.

They were in terrible condition. With broken arms and legs, one guy had a broken pelvis. He could not go to the toilet, could not do anything… It turned out that they were taken to a colony in Taganrog (a city near the Rostov region of the Russian Federation, – ). They told how they were “received” there: special forces guards stood near the line, prisoners walked in front of them, and they mercilessly beat them. That’s how the boys got injured.

They were brought in tied and blindfolded, thrown out of the truck. While they were being led, they were terribly beaten. In the colony, they took fingerprints, DNA samples, put them in cells. Then they heard how other Ukrainians were being taken out somewhere in groups. No more of these people were seen there…

Why do you think the prisoners were brought to Sevastopol, then taken to Taganrog, and then returned?

They said that this happens all the time: taking someone somewhere, bringing someone back. Why – I don’t know. It was under such impressions – waiting for “something” – that he stayed in Sevastopol for a month.

Then “KAMAZ” came after us again, they tied us up again and pushed us onto plastic barrels with fuel. They drove for many hours. Then they stopped.

To be honest, not believing in the exchange until the last. Until I saw the Ukrainian delegate who was walking across the bridge. Several of our soldiers were with him. This feeling cannot be expressed in words. When they took me, they all shook me out of my body, and then let me go… After all, before leaving Crimea, I thought they were taking me to Taganrog.

Were the six prisoners who were returned to Sevastopol with you?

No. They didn’t go on the exchange then – they stayed near the Crimea.

Is anything known about the fate of the two boys who remained in Primorsk and were captured?

I saw old lists in Sevastopol [полонених], in which Serhiy Shatkovsky was listed. I also saw his sweater on the base. These, relatively speaking, are all the traces of him that happened to me… After talking with the guys who were there longer, they said that the prisoners from those lists were taken out three days before we arrived. Mykola Shvetsa did not find any traces.

How did you manage to survive for so many hours in terrible conditions? How do you feel now?

Regarding health, as already said, I have a broken nose and a knocked out tooth. I still can’t wear anything on my wrists, not even wristwatches. But these are, of course, little things. Much worse psychologically. Something happened to me that I cannot explain. Here, I can tell about everything that happened before the capture, literally from the frames, after that – a kind of vacuum.

The turning point occurred after the so-called shooting. Then just stop being afraid. Having stopped, because in my thoughts I had already died, but it turned out that I was still living. That is, it became a kind of inoculation against the fear of death. After that, I thought only about my beloved Diana, about my family… About what my loved ones would feel if I was gone. I wasn’t ready for them to go through that. By the way, one grandmother did not wait for me – she died.

What are your plans for the future?

I really want to return to the service. But there is a great desire to retrain. I am the commander of the pontoon and bridge division, but I want to do something that I will do better and, in my opinion, will be more useful. The soul lies in air reconnaissance.

When do you plan to marry Diana?

Proposing to Diana in September 2021. The wedding was planned for this summer. But he did not spend it with his beloved, but near the Berdyansk prison cell… Now we are not dreaming – we will play a wedding after the victory.

Larisa Kozova