Azovstal defender told about being in captivity

Border guard Dmytro Yeskin, who was released from Russian captivity, has spoken about his service, the defence of Mariupol and 743 days in enemy prisons. The video was published by the State Border Service.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation officer served in the Donetsk detachment. Captain Yeskin was part of a unit of border guards, which was defending in the besieged by the enemy city at the plant "Azovstal".

Dmitry's sector of responsibility was not far from the bridge over the Kalmius River. The border guard recalls that until May 2022 the intensity of enemy shelling of the plant was incredible.

Dmitry recalls that when the state leadership found a way out for the soldiers who were surrounded in Mariupol, all those who were captured hoped to return home in 3-4-6 months. Captain Yeskin's way to the exchange lasted 743 days.

At first the officer got to the infamous Olenovka. In a barrack designed for a hundred prisoners, they were kept more than 600 people. They slept on the floor, ate boiled porridge. They were kept in cramped cells.

We were allowed out for walks only for five minutes a day, and when we were asked, we had to answer that for an hour," recalls the border guard and notes that every communication with the SIZO staff carried the threat of torture or moral pressure.

There was no normal hygiene either, and in case of health problems, Russian doctors brought in special forces to help the prisoners.

After receiving three blows with a rubber stick on my back, I realised that he had sort of cured me," the former prisoner says of the peculiarities of Russian prison medicine.

He recalls that the guards reacted particularly violently to Ukrainian speech, used not only fists, but also batons and tasers, and he, as an officer, was often threatened with a double dose of tasers

Dmytro wanted to become a border guard since his childhood, like his father. He was born in Khmelnytskyi, but because of his father's service he moved frequently and changed 5 schools. Then he entered the Mukachevo military lyceum, and then the National Academy of the State Border Service.

Earlier it was reported that the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for former Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the head of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov.

Socialportal also reported that the 53rd prisoner-of-war exchange took place on 25 June. 90 defenders were returned to Ukraine.