Shocking before and after images show a Ukrainian soldier looking painfully thin after being freed from Russian captivity in scenes reminiscent of liberated Nazi camps.
When Volodymyr Tsema-Bursov, 41, was taken prisoner by invading Russian troops 20 months ago, he weighed a healthy 95kg.
But gruesome photographs taken after his release last month as part of a prisoner exchange show what could be mistaken for photographs of a Nazi death camp from World War II.
Volodymyr, who is 6.2 feet tall, has lost almost half his body weight and now weighs just 57kg. His skeletal body is so thin you can count every rib, and his painfully gaunt arms hang like pipe cleaners.
He is being treated for multiple medical problems caused by starvation. Volodymyr said: ‘My health is much worse than I expected.
The gruesome photographs (above) taken after Volodymyr’s release last month as part of a prisoner exchange show what could be mistaken for photographs of a Nazi death camp from World War II.
When Volodymyr Tsema-Bursov, 41, was taken prisoner by invading Russian troops 20 months ago, he weighed a healthy 95kg (pictured).
Volodymyr, who is 6.2 feet tall, has lost almost half his body weight and now weighs just 57kg. His skeletal body is so thin you can count every rib, and his painfully gaunt arms hang like pipe cleaners.
‘I have, as they say, “a whole bouquet” of diseases, including chronic gastritis in the acute phase, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a disease of the human digestive system, chronic prostatitis in remission, etc.’
His wife Inna, 34, said: “I want people to see what is being done to our prisoners of war in Russian prisons.”
Volodymyr was serving in the Ukrainian 56th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade when he was captured on April 12, 2022.
He had been detained after Ukrainian forces were surrounded at the Ilyich metallurgical plant in Mariupol, according to local media reports.
He was then held in a succession of detention centers in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of Ukraine, as well as in Russia and He was also reportedly subjected to torture.
Russian soldiers reportedly beat and abused their prisoners and when Volodymyr was freed he was so confused that he didn’t even realize he was back in Ukraine.
The first stop after his capture was the famous Olenivka barracks, where soldiers supposedly try to “break” prisoners of war.
“We were greeted by Jack Booted’s thug,” he said. ‘Each of us says his last name, first name and patronymic and runs towards the barracks through a “habitable corridor.”
‘Three men on the left, the same number of people on the right. Each of them had a “working tool” in his hand: a baton or a rubber stick.
‘Others had something like a cutting board or a strap with metal inserts. Each of them tries to hit you as hard as possible.
The last man “jumped up and kicked you in the stomach.” He hit so hard that almost everyone fell down.’
Inmates were allegedly forced to remove clothing and go through the same process again. “Many of the men suffered kidney injuries,” Volodymyr said.
In Sukhodolsk, also in the invaded territory of Ukraine, ‘they took me to the cell, and there were two of them.
“And one of them said: “According to our information, you are a (military) instructor in the Azov regiment.”
His wife Inna (left, pictured with Volodymyr), 34, said: “I want people to see what is being done to our prisoners of war in Russian prisons.”
In fact, Volodymyr was a musician in Mariupol and on cruise ships and was drafted into the military orchestra immediately before the war in 2020.
‘I responded that this information was far from the truth. But they didn’t believe me,’ she stated. And the blows started on my legs, chest and abdomen. Accusations and blows. Then, apparently, they got tired.
‘They said, well, if you’re a musician and we bring a guitar, will you be able to play it? “Well, of course I’ll play,” I told them.
He was later transferred to an unspecified location in Russia. He said: ‘When we arrived, one of the boys asked the guards where we were. And in response the voice says: “Welcome to hell!”‘
They were allegedly forced to their knees and elbows, stripped naked and washed with cold water.
“All this was accompanied by beatings, with sticks, batons, cutting boards and electric shocks,” Volodymyr said. “Then they took fingerprints. And, again, the blows, they hit them wherever they could: back, chest, head, arms, legs.’