"Russian Troops Cut Through There" ... Testimony from Ukrainian Prisoners of War

Ukrainian soldiers revealed that they were castrated with a knife while being held captive by Russian forces.

[Photo by The Sunday Times UK Twitter capture]

The British weekly Sunday Times reported on the 17th (local time) an interview with Angelica Yatsenko, a professional psychological counselor treating mental health issues of Ukrainian soldiers who were detained by Russia and later released through a prisoner exchange between the two countries.

According to the report, two Ukrainian soldiers aged 25 and 28, who spent one month and three months respectively in Russian detention camps, shared their experiences with counselor Yatsenko. They revealed that drunken Russian soldiers severely beat them and then castrated them with a knife, saying, "You will never be able to have children."

They said, "There was so much blood at the time that we still wonder how we survived," and "We returned to Ukraine but are still haunted by nightmares." One of them even attempted an extreme act.

Yatsenko explained, "When I first heard their stories, I couldn't respond professionally. I went to the bathroom and cried and cried. It was so shocking that I had to step away for a moment." She added, "Among tortures, castration not only causes physical harm but also inflicts great psychological pain because they can no longer fulfill their role as men." She continued, "Their dignity has been severely violated. Not only physically, but as young men who had just begun their sexual lives and are still influenced by hormones, they still feel sexual desire but are unable to act on it."

The 28-year-old Ukrainian soldier who was castrated by the Russian military reportedly insisted on returning to combat, saying, "The battlefield is where I am needed, and since there are no women, it is better to be here."

Ukrainian prisoners of war participating in the prisoner exchange process.
Photo by AP Yonhap News

Yatsenko analyzed the victim's psychology, saying, "He may want to kill the Russians who did this to him, but at the same time, he may be so pessimistic about his life that he wants to die himself."

The Sunday Times pointed out that while international outrage and support for women and girls raped by Russians in occupied territories are widespread, there is much less attention to sexual violence against men and boys who are occupied or detained.

In July last year, videos of Russian soldiers castrating Ukrainian prisoner-of-war soldiers were circulated online. At that time, the Ukrainian UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission stated, "Torturing prisoners of war and those who have lost combat capability and executing them summarily are war crimes."

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