Captured

Stories

In the Taganrog detention center, in front of the guards, Viktoriia Roshchyna tried to cut her veins in order to get a psychologist brought to her, according to testimony from a person released from captivity.

Torture, exile, and escape across the front line. How a Ukrainian lawyer broke free from occupation after imprisonment in an FSB torture chamber

A Bag Over Her Head — and Into the Car: How the Russians Kidnapped Kherson Student Ania Yeltsova and Forced Her to Testify Against Herself

The story of a teacher rescued from captivity in the occupied territory by the Main Intelligence Directorate: '20 years in prison or the death penalty'

Mom, They’re Here for Me: The Story of Kherson Volunteer Iryna Horobtsova, Whom the Occupiers Have Held Hostage for More Than Two Years

“Relatives said: people like you should be wiped out.” The story of a woman who survived torture chambers and escaped twice from occupied Mariupol

Project "Victoria": The Story of the Captivity and Torture Endured by Journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna and Thousands of Ukrainians Imprisoned by Russia

“We Stayed So the Russians Wouldn’t Feel Like They Owned This Place”: How Teacher Olha Melnychenko Survived the Occupation of Kherson, Captivity, and Refused to Be Broken

“Stripping, rape, and ‘entertainment’ in the sauna: a conversation with a human rights defender about sexual violence and the path to punishing Russians

"I Can't Cry": An Interview with Liudmyla Huseinova, Who Spent More Than Three Years in Russian Captivity

Freedom of speech in the occupied territories: repression and new mechanisms of pressure in 2025

“Someone Must Always Be There to Help Her”: Russia Continues to Imprison Seriously Ill Aidar Veteran Kateryna Kuzmenko

What Happened to Viktoriia Roshchyna: The Journalist's Torture, Captivity, and Death

From Maternity Leave to “Terrorist”: How a Russian Court Convicted Aidar Servicewoman Viktoriia Tkachenko for Serving in the Battalion

"I Begged the Russians to Kill Me": The Story of a Servicewoman Who Survived Russian Captivity

“They Beat Everyone Very Severely, Including Women”: Journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna Was Transferred to a Detention Center in Russia’s Perm Region Shortly Before Her Death.

“Someone Like You Doesn’t Need a Lawyer.” Former Aidar POW Maryna Mishchenko on Olenivka, the Donetsk Pretrial Detention Center, and a Russian Court

“We Could Hear Screams; She Was Tortured with Electric Shocks”: Journalist Hlukhova, Held Captive by Russia for More Than Two Years, Was Tortured (Investigation)

‘If You Don’t Tell Me Everything, I’ll Rape Your Sister-in-Arms’: Marine on Brutal Torture of Women in Russian Prisons

ATO, “Azov,” 11.5 months in captivity, and a return to service: the story of combat medic from Uzhhorod, Halyna Zaitseva

Archipelago of Torture, or How Russians Abuse Ukrainian Prisoners. Testimonies

“Do You Know Who You’re Under Here? The KGB.” How a Ukrainian Woman from Chernihiv Became a Political Prisoner in Belarus.

Women Released from Captivity Speak Frankly About the Violence They Endured: Four Stories

Tortured Over a Telegram Comment

In Memoriam: Journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, Who Knew Everything Except Indifference

"I Wrote a Farewell Letter to My Parents": A Witness to Torture

A Bird in the Sky. The Story of Svitlana Vorova, a Woman from Odesa and Defender of Azovstal, Who Returned from Captivity to Continue the Work of Her Son, Who Was Killed in the War — Defending Ukraine in the Azov Brigade

Her Battle for Mariupol: Yuliia Horoshanska Fought in the ATO, Endured Azovstal, Captivity and the Olenivka Terrorist Attack — and Now Has to Prove in Court That She Defended Her Hometown

“Even darker horrors unfold in the torture chambers”: Azovstal defender “Nava” releases a book about captivity

"I Thought I Wouldn't Survive": Police Officer Tortured by Russian Forces

An Inspiring Love Story: A Border Guard Couple Who Survived Captivity Is Together Again

"They Beat Me Day and Night": Teacher Taken to a Detention Center

"Azov" and "Azovstal, captivity, Olenivka, torture in a detention center, the exchange, and the first tiramisu in freedom — Svitlana Vorova (call sign ‘Hrazia’) speaks in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda about 11 months of Russian captivity.

“Russians Asked What ‘Nava’ Means — I Told Them It Meant Nothing Good for Them.” Valeriia Subotina on Captivity, Azovstal, Her Hometown of Mariupol, Her Killed Husband, and Victory.

“In the Helicopter to Azovstal, I Was Afraid of One Thing: Throwing Up on the Guys Next to Me.” Nurse Nadiia Yarish on the Siege of Mariupol, Captivity, Service After Captivity, and Her Hopes for Victory.

“Now I will live for two”: the love story of Valeriia and Andrii, who married in a bunker at Azovstal

Freed POW Alla Senchenko from Lutsk on Her Experience, Survival, and Ukraine's Future Victory

“There, on the little star – Kyrylo”: a mother’s story of surviving captivity and losing her soldier son

12-Year-Old Sasha on Being Wounded, Captivity in Donetsk, the Illich Steel Plant, and Separation from His Mother

“They don’t consider you a human being”: stories of women who survived Russian captivity.

“They told my mother that I am an enemy of the people,” – the story of the head of the Dvorichanska community, who spent nearly three months in captivity

The Story of a Woman from Kamianka-Dniprovska Who Spent Seven Months in Russian Captivity

Unbreakable: the story of a Kharkiv woman who, at 70, ended up in a Russian occupation basement prison

Heroes of Kharkiv: Halyna Turbaba

Maryana Mamonova on Azovmash, Pregnancy in Captivity, and Interrogations by Russian Soldiers

The Trial of Separation: The Story of Kateryna Skopina, Who Survived Captivity

The first exchange of women: what happened to Ukrainian servicewomen in Russian captivity.

After the Interrogations, I Spent Another Week Sitting in a Basement, Freezing, Starving, and Losing My Mind: The Story of a Preschool Teacher from Kherson

Life After Russian Captivity: The Story of a Freed Military Medic

'A week in the basement, starving and losing my mind' – a childcare worker from Kherson on her captivity during the occupation

They Beat Me and Forced Me to Sing Their Anthem": The Story of Former POW Anastasiia Zaudalska

“In that hell, she said goodbye to life more than once.” The story of a woman who returned from Russian captivity

189 days of captivity of a military medic and what came before and after. The story of Olena Kryvtsova

Torture and ‘Terrorism’ Cases: The Story of Mariupol Volunteers Released from Captivity in Olenivka

She returned in her ninth month of pregnancy: the story of a medic released from Russian captivity

Quietly Singing Ukraine's National Anthem and Daily Prayers: Mariupol Military Hospital Medic Kateryna Skopina on What Helped Her Endure Nearly Nine Months in Captivity

Ryzhulia Returns from Captivity: Combat Medic and Marine Anna Olsen on the War in Mariupol, Imprisonment in Russia, and Her Release