When, at the very beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian troops invaded the Ukrainian city of Kherson, Oleksiy Sivak was among those residents of the city who, risking their lives, opposed the invaders and took to the streets of the city to protest. Oleksiy was detained, as if he were resisting, and he was also accused of organizing a soup kitchen in his neighborhood. Subsequently, the Ukrainian was sent to a Russian prison, where he experienced unimaginable horrors.
"It was terrible, I just wanted to be shot"
"At the very first interrogation, I expected to be beaten to death. They almost didn't stop hitting me. During the second interrogation, with a gun held to my head - I don't know if it was loaded or not - I was only thinking about one thing: now they're going to finish me off. It was terribly painful, I just wanted to be shot," Oleksiy recalls.
Among the charges against him is this: Oleksiy painted the covers of sewer manholes and the curbs of the sidewalks in his neighborhood in yellow and blue - the colors of the Ukrainian flag. "Everyone knew what risks such actions entailed. But I simply couldn't stand idly by," Oleksiy told DW. According to him, the Russians followed him and repainted everything red.
Olexiy spent almost two months in a Russian prisoner of war camp. There he was subjected to physical torture, mental and sexual abuse. "They stuck needles under my nails, tortured me by choking me. And then one of them started kicking me with the tip of his boot - in the bladder, in the genitals, in the anus. They were targeted, precise blows", the Ukrainian recalls.
Sometimes they also used the so-called "lie detector" - a field telephone, which the Russian guards connected to cables and terminals that they fastened to the prisoner's body in order to cause him excruciating electric shocks when the device was activated.
"If I didn't provide them with the expected information, there was a "call to Biden" or a "call to Zelensky": they connected a wire to my genitals, and the other end remained in my ear. They had fun in every possible way - they had the power to do it", says Oleksiy.
According to human rights organizations, this is how most prisoners were tortured - sexual violence was the preferred method of torture and humiliation.
"When they weren't torturing us, we could hear new people being brought in or someone being dragged out of the cell to be tortured in the basement. There were wild, inhuman screams... And you just sit there and wait for them to come and get you."
After almost two months in Russian captivity, Oleksiy was released. But this did not end his suffering: it was not until nine months later that he received the adequate help he urgently needed. There is still no unified program to help torture victims in Ukraine, and bureaucratic obstacles are great.
"I want to help the boys"
To be useful, Oleksiy created a self-help group for torture victims. "Here we are all similar in spirit, we know who is who. We all understand each other, and that is reassuring", says a man named Mykola.
"In the group, everyone can talk freely, get to know others, look for former cellmates and find out what happened to them", adds Stepan, another participant in the self-help group. Another important thing for the participants is that the group offers emotional support that no one else can give them.
"We support each other because no psychologist can help us. Only people who have experienced the same thing know what it means," says a third participant in the group, who introduced himself to DW as Oleksandr.
Olexy Sivak's initiative aims to fill the gaps in the state support program. "Our network is growing, which is not really a good sign. But I want to be of help to the boys," says Oleksiy.
And he is doing it: more and more men are turning to him for help. And as the war continues, their number will grow.
Author: Rebecca Ritters