“I went to a psychologist and realized I couldn’t take it anymore, that I wouldn’t survive”: A Ukrainian man recounted the sexualized violence he endured while in Russian captivity
Source: Slidstvo Info
Author: Yana Korniychuk
“Do you think I ever imagined I’d end up in a situation like this? Never in my life. But I went through it. I didn’t want to, but I had to. Maybe someone will see this and draw their own conclusions,” Viktor Soldatov tells reporters. He, along with three other subjects of the documentary “He, Too: Stories of Ukrainian Men Abused by Russians,” spoke about the sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers against Ukrainians.
This is covered in an article by “Slidstvo.Info”: Rape, electric shocks to the genitals, and threats of castration: what four Ukrainian men endured during the Russian occupation.
“OPEN UP, POLICE”
Viktor Soldatov, a survivor of sexual violence in a Kherson
torture chamber The man lives on Ostrov—an isolated district of Kherson connected to the city by a bridge. Viktor did not leave Ostrov until early May; he helped people as best he could, but then the residents of Kherson began to leave.
The Russians came for Viktor on the morning of August 17, 2022. “At exactly 7 a.m., there was a knock at the door. I went to the door and asked, ‘Who is it?’ The reply was, ‘Open up, police.’ I opened the door, and there were four of them standing there: two in military uniforms without masks, and two in civilian clothes wearing masks. As soon as I opened the door, they rushed into the apartment like cockroaches and scattered into different rooms,” the man says.
After that, the man was told he had to go with the Russians. They assured him that he’d be home soon and that there was no need to turn off the electricity, gas, or water. “I had an emergency backpack; they took it along with my money and documents. They also took my laptop, tablet, phones, and coin collection for some reason,” says Viktor.
The Russians then put Viktor in a car and drove him to 4 Lyuteranska Street—the headquarters of the National Police. “It turns out that in the car, they put a woolen hat on me so I couldn’t see anything. But I’ve lived in Kherson my whole life; I know my way around here well, and I could tell where we were going just by the turns,” recalls the man.
“IF YOU WERE ABROAD, WHAT INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES DID YOU COME INTO CONTACT WITH?”
The cell where the man was held was small. It had no water or ventilation, and was constantly filled with the smell of mustiness, dampness, and a rotting floor. “And the light was always on. The windows were boarded up with sheet metal; it was impossible to tell what time of day it was—day or night, evening or morning,” Viktor recalls.
The day after his arrest, they came for Viktor. Two or three Russian soldiers entered the cell, twisted his arms behind his back, wrapped them in duct tape, put a hat on his head, and led him out—the interrogation began.
“They attached two electrodes: one to the little toe of my right foot, the other to my earlobe. It’s a field phone—an electric generator, as I understand it. You could hear them turning the lever,” the man says.
They seriously questioned Viktor about his ties to the SBU, whether any of his relatives were in “Azov,” and where the Nazis lived. “Have you been abroad? Yes, I’ve been abroad. If so, which intelligence agencies did you come into contact with? Those were the kinds of questions. “I don’t know which intelligence agencies—they don’t walk around wearing badges,” the man says, describing the interrogation.
The next day, the interrogation process repeated itself, but this time it was accompanied by threats and intimidation. “Call your sister. If she loves you and wants to see you alive, let her go around Mykolaiv and tell them where the Ukrainian military’s stockpiles and military equipment are,” Viktor says.
After that, they began torturing him. Electric shocks, beatings with batons, and then water torture: “They started suffocating me with a plastic bag, then pulled a hat over my head and started pouring water on me. And you start choking—it’s very, very painful. Your lungs feel like they’re on fire,” Viktor shares.
He adds that the Russians weren’t at all interested in his answers to their questions: “What mattered to them was the process. At the end of the second interrogation, they knocked me to the floor and started turning the generator. They cranked and cranked, didn’t ask me anything; I was in pain, moaning from the pain, and I heard one of them say to the other, ‘Look how funny his fingers are splaying.’”
“I COULDN’T THINK OF ANYTHING BETTER THAN PULLING A NAIL OUT OF THE FLOOR AND SLITTING MY THROAT”
During the third interrogation, they threw Viktor onto the table and spread him out. Four of them were holding him—two by the arms, two by the legs.
“They pulled down my shorts and started hitting me on the buttocks. I don’t know if it was a rubber baton or something else. By then I was already in such a dazed state that I didn’t understand anything. They asked, ‘Do you know what we’re going to do to you right now? All of us together, and each of us separately.’ At that moment, I almost lost my mind. I threw up right there.”
After that, they threw the man off the table, picked him up, and dragged him into the cell: “I couldn’t think of anything better than pulling a nail out of the floor and slitting my throat.” The next morning, Victor’s cellmate saw him in that state and called for help. Victor was immediately given pills and put on an IV: “Bro, bro, why’d you do that? Why’d you do that?”
Two days later, Viktor was taken to a temporary detention center: “They got rid of me so they wouldn’t have to deal with this fool. There’s not much else he can do.”
The man was released from Russian captivity in May 2023, after nine months of detention, first at the Kherson Temporary Detention Center and then at the Chaplynka District Police Station. Reflecting on why the Russians do this to Ukrainian civilians, he says: “These are people who do this all the time; they’re professional sadists on duty. They get paid for it. It’s the system.”
Viktor decided to share this story so that everyone would know and understand what really happens when you’re detained by the Russians.
“Let everyone know what really happened—that this isn’t made up. I went to see a psychologist; I realized I couldn’t handle it, I wouldn’t survive without one. Maybe someone will see this and draw their own conclusions,” the man reflects.
If you’d prefer to watch the video with subtitles in another language, go to YouTube Settings → Subtitles → Auto-translate and select the language you want.
Author: Yana Korniychuk
“Do you think I ever imagined I’d end up in a situation like this? Never in my life. But I went through it. I didn’t want to, but I had to. Maybe someone will see this and draw their own conclusions,” Viktor Soldatov tells reporters. He, along with three other subjects of the documentary “He, Too: Stories of Ukrainian Men Abused by Russians,” spoke about the sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers against Ukrainians.
This is covered in an article by “Slidstvo.Info”: Rape, electric shocks to the genitals, and threats of castration: what four Ukrainian men endured during the Russian occupation.
“OPEN UP, POLICE”
Viktor Soldatov, a survivor of sexual violence in a Kherson
torture chamber The man lives on Ostrov—an isolated district of Kherson connected to the city by a bridge. Viktor did not leave Ostrov until early May; he helped people as best he could, but then the residents of Kherson began to leave.
The Russians came for Viktor on the morning of August 17, 2022. “At exactly 7 a.m., there was a knock at the door. I went to the door and asked, ‘Who is it?’ The reply was, ‘Open up, police.’ I opened the door, and there were four of them standing there: two in military uniforms without masks, and two in civilian clothes wearing masks. As soon as I opened the door, they rushed into the apartment like cockroaches and scattered into different rooms,” the man says.
After that, the man was told he had to go with the Russians. They assured him that he’d be home soon and that there was no need to turn off the electricity, gas, or water. “I had an emergency backpack; they took it along with my money and documents. They also took my laptop, tablet, phones, and coin collection for some reason,” says Viktor.
The Russians then put Viktor in a car and drove him to 4 Lyuteranska Street—the headquarters of the National Police. “It turns out that in the car, they put a woolen hat on me so I couldn’t see anything. But I’ve lived in Kherson my whole life; I know my way around here well, and I could tell where we were going just by the turns,” recalls the man.
“IF YOU WERE ABROAD, WHAT INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES DID YOU COME INTO CONTACT WITH?”
The cell where the man was held was small. It had no water or ventilation, and was constantly filled with the smell of mustiness, dampness, and a rotting floor. “And the light was always on. The windows were boarded up with sheet metal; it was impossible to tell what time of day it was—day or night, evening or morning,” Viktor recalls.
The day after his arrest, they came for Viktor. Two or three Russian soldiers entered the cell, twisted his arms behind his back, wrapped them in duct tape, put a hat on his head, and led him out—the interrogation began.
“They attached two electrodes: one to the little toe of my right foot, the other to my earlobe. It’s a field phone—an electric generator, as I understand it. You could hear them turning the lever,” the man says.
They seriously questioned Viktor about his ties to the SBU, whether any of his relatives were in “Azov,” and where the Nazis lived. “Have you been abroad? Yes, I’ve been abroad. If so, which intelligence agencies did you come into contact with? Those were the kinds of questions. “I don’t know which intelligence agencies—they don’t walk around wearing badges,” the man says, describing the interrogation.
The next day, the interrogation process repeated itself, but this time it was accompanied by threats and intimidation. “Call your sister. If she loves you and wants to see you alive, let her go around Mykolaiv and tell them where the Ukrainian military’s stockpiles and military equipment are,” Viktor says.
After that, they began torturing him. Electric shocks, beatings with batons, and then water torture: “They started suffocating me with a plastic bag, then pulled a hat over my head and started pouring water on me. And you start choking—it’s very, very painful. Your lungs feel like they’re on fire,” Viktor shares.
He adds that the Russians weren’t at all interested in his answers to their questions: “What mattered to them was the process. At the end of the second interrogation, they knocked me to the floor and started turning the generator. They cranked and cranked, didn’t ask me anything; I was in pain, moaning from the pain, and I heard one of them say to the other, ‘Look how funny his fingers are splaying.’”
“I COULDN’T THINK OF ANYTHING BETTER THAN PULLING A NAIL OUT OF THE FLOOR AND SLITTING MY THROAT”
During the third interrogation, they threw Viktor onto the table and spread him out. Four of them were holding him—two by the arms, two by the legs.
“They pulled down my shorts and started hitting me on the buttocks. I don’t know if it was a rubber baton or something else. By then I was already in such a dazed state that I didn’t understand anything. They asked, ‘Do you know what we’re going to do to you right now? All of us together, and each of us separately.’ At that moment, I almost lost my mind. I threw up right there.”
After that, they threw the man off the table, picked him up, and dragged him into the cell: “I couldn’t think of anything better than pulling a nail out of the floor and slitting my throat.” The next morning, Victor’s cellmate saw him in that state and called for help. Victor was immediately given pills and put on an IV: “Bro, bro, why’d you do that? Why’d you do that?”
Two days later, Viktor was taken to a temporary detention center: “They got rid of me so they wouldn’t have to deal with this fool. There’s not much else he can do.”
The man was released from Russian captivity in May 2023, after nine months of detention, first at the Kherson Temporary Detention Center and then at the Chaplynka District Police Station. Reflecting on why the Russians do this to Ukrainian civilians, he says: “These are people who do this all the time; they’re professional sadists on duty. They get paid for it. It’s the system.”
Viktor decided to share this story so that everyone would know and understand what really happens when you’re detained by the Russians.
“Let everyone know what really happened—that this isn’t made up. I went to see a psychologist; I realized I couldn’t handle it, I wouldn’t survive without one. Maybe someone will see this and draw their own conclusions,” the man reflects.
If you’d prefer to watch the video with subtitles in another language, go to YouTube Settings → Subtitles → Auto-translate and select the language you want.
This is an automatic translation generated by DeepL.