A Ukrainian soldier has miraculously survived after Russian troops slit his throat, threw him into a pit and left him for dead, before he crawled for five days to reach safety.
The 33-year-old soldier, identified as Vladyslav, was captured along with fellow servicemen and taken to a basement where they were subjected to brutal torture. According to his wife, Viktoriia, who spoke to Ukrainska Pravda, “First, he was caught by one group, and then they were taken to a basement. There were completely different soldiers there. There were two of them, and they tormented the prisoners.”
Reports state that some Ukrainian captives had their eyes gouged out, while others were mutilated, including the cutting off of ears, noses and genitals. Vladyslav was the last to be attacked, his throat cut before he was dumped into a pit with other victims.
Believing he would die, he managed to tie his neck with a rag and crawled across the battlefield for nearly five days until he reached Ukrainian lines. He was rushed to hospital in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in critical condition, having lost large amounts of blood and suffering severe infections.
Doctors treating him described his will to live as extraordinary. “He held on until the end, but you could tell he was confident everything would be okay,” said the hospital director. Despite his ordeal, Vladyslav has told his brother in writing that he intends to return to the frontlines. “Those bastards should feel what he and seven of his fellow soldiers felt,” he wrote.
Russian forces have been repeatedly accused of carrying out atrocities against Ukrainian prisoners of war. In June, footage emerged of an unmasked Russian soldier taunting a wounded Ukrainian captive before firing a rifle at him. Ukraine’s Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, condemned the incident, warning that such acts highlight the ongoing torture of POWs.
International law strictly prohibits such treatment. The Third Geneva Convention obliges all parties to conflicts to treat prisoners of war humanely, providing adequate food, shelter, medical care, and protection from violence, intimidation, and torture.
Vladyslav’s case adds to mounting evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces, with Ukrainian officials calling for global accountability as the conflict continues.
