"Cleaned the Blood-Soaked Torture Room"... Testimony of a Boy Returned 90 Days After Being Kidnapped by Russian Troops

Forced to Clean the Torture Room

Vlad (right) and his father Oleg Buryak / Photo by Facebook Capture

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Nayeon] A Ukrainian boy who was kidnapped and imprisoned by Russian troops after fleeing his hometown reunited with his father after 90 days and shared his thoughts.

The Washington Post (WP) in the United States published an interview with Vlad Buryak (16) on the 16th (local time). Vlad, the son of the military administration head of the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine, was kidnapped by Russian soldiers while trying to escape his hometown Melitopol in early April.

Vlad said that the Russian troops took him to a prison in the Masyl Lavka area of Zaporizhzhia province.

Initially confined alone in a solitary cell for several days, Vlad revealed that within about a week, a man in his early twenties was moved into the same room as him.

He said he heard the man being tortured, including being beaten and electrocuted, and that the man said, "Rather than continuing to be tortured, I should leave this land," then made an extreme attempt using a tin can.

Vlad sat beside the man holding his hand as he lost consciousness. A guard found the man trying to die, called medical staff, and took him away. However, Vlad added that he never found out whether the man survived.

Afterwards, Vlad lived alone in prison and was forced to clean the room where other prisoners had been tortured.

The room contained blood-soaked medical supplies, and Vlad said, "I organized all the medical supplies in an emotionless state and acted as if nothing had happened. Because I did not show aggression, the Russian troops did not do the same to me."

Vlad said he appeared unaffected despite witnessing cruel and frightening scenes. He said, "At that moment, I understood that I was also saving myself," adding, "But inside, I was extremely scared. I was shocked. It felt as if everything inside me was burning," conveying the fear he experienced at the time.

After about seven weeks in prison, Vlad was moved to a facility with better conditions. There, he could bathe regularly and call his family, but whether he could see them again was uncertain. Vlad said he repeatedly recited two sentences to himself: "There is no unsolvable situation," and "I will get out."

Vlad’s father, Oleg Buryak, said on the 4th that he received a call from a Russian negotiator saying, "We are ready to release Vlad." Oleg said there were detailed instructions from the Russian side during the process, some of which he could not understand.

A few days later, Oleg was able to meet Vlad again on a road near the border with the Russian-occupied area. Oleg shared his feelings, saying, "When Vlad was kidnapped, it felt like my heart was torn apart," and "When I held my son again, it felt like the torn pieces came back together."

Vlad emphasized, "I do not want to forget anything," and said he wants to share all these facts with many people.

The Washington Post noted that it could not independently verify Vlad’s statements, but according to human rights organizations tracking forced disappearances of Ukrainians, Vlad’s testimony matches those of other released victims, and torture is a "common practice" in prisons.

Earlier, on the 14th (local time), according to US CNN and others, the OSCE investigation team, after examining Bucha, Irpin, and other areas from April to June following the withdrawal of Russian troops, confirmed that "Russian troops violated international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions," and found "credible evidence that civilian killings, rapes, kidnappings, and deportations were widespread and systematic."

According to the report, in a building used as a summer camp in Bucha, a room with bullet holes believed to have been used for civilian executions and a torture room divided by concrete walls were discovered. OSCE experts said they found traces of water torture in such rooms. Among five bodies found there, there were bruises as well as burn marks.

In the basement of another village in Bucha, 18 bodies including children were found. The investigation team recorded that some had their ears cut off and some had teeth pulled out.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.