Hero of Ukraine Oleksiy Kapelyushnyi recounted how he stole lists of Ukrainian prisoners of war from a Russian prison

Oleksiy Kapelyushnyi, a Hero of Ukraine and sergeant in the Airborne Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stole documents containing lists of Ukrainian prisoners of war while he was held captive in Russia. These documents contained the names of soldiers whose families might have been unaware of their fate or might have considered them missing in action or killed.

According to Oleksiy Kapelyushnyi, the incident occurred during one of the interrogations in a Russian prison. 

Officers from the Russian Federal Security Service arrived there. At one point, one of them received a phone call asking him to bring a flash drive.

“He got a call and was asked: ‘Bring them the flash drive.’ I actually heard it on the phone: ‘Bring the flash drive.’ The guy just grabbed the flash drive and walked out of the office,” the soldier recalled.

Documents and laptops were left on the table. Among the papers, Kapelyushny noticed a stack of A4-sized sheets stapled together. They contained the last names of Ukrainian soldiers being held in that prison.

“I looked around the corners—it seemed like there were no cameras. And there were these papers with the names. Without thinking twice, I just stuffed the papers into my pants, hid them, and that was it,” he said.

The soldier understood just how important these documents could be for the families of Ukrainian defenders. After all, some families had no confirmation that their loved ones were alive and being held captive.

“This will be very useful information, because not everyone knew that someone was alive; some were considered missing in action, others presumed dead. And here is direct proof that these people are alive,” Kapelyushny explained.

After stealing the documents, Oleksiy Kapelyushny had to discreetly hide them in his cell so that the Russian guards wouldn’t find them.

During the interview, he was asked whether they had later searched for the missing documents. The soldier explained that he had hidden them inside his mattress.

“Thank God, my hands are still intact. I carefully unstitched the mattress. I hid them there. And those papers stayed there until a certain point,” he replied.

Oleksiy Kapelyushnyi is a sergeant in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Airborne Assault Troops and a Hero of Ukraine. During combat operations in the Donetsk region, he destroyed Russian military equipment and personnel using an RPG-7 grenade launcher.

On March 18, 2022, Kapelyushnyi and his comrades found themselves surrounded. The Ukrainian soldiers organized a circular defense inside one of the buildings. After all his comrades had been killed, the sergeant continued to resist the enemy.

As a result of a grenade explosion, he sustained severe injuries and a broken leg. Due to his injuries, he was later forced to amputate his own limb.

After that, Oleksiy Kapelyushnyi was taken prisoner by the Russians. On June 29, 2022, he was returned to Ukraine. Despite what he had been through, the soldier continued his service in the Airborne Assault Forces.

Kapelyushny spoke about this in an interview with “Army FM.”

As a reminder, during negotiations in Abu Dhabi, Ukraine raised the issue of a large-scale prisoner exchange with Russia. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the parties discussed exchange options in a “1,000 for 1,000” or even “1,500 for 1,500” format. No final agreements have been reached yet, but the U.S. delegation plans to raise this issue during its next contacts with the Russian side.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy heard a report from the Ukrainian negotiating team on the results of the first day of consultations in Abu Dhabi (UAE) on November 10. The negotiation process began with consultations with European and American partners, followed by a trilateral meeting involving delegations from Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia.

During the first round of talks in Abu Dhabi, the U.S., Ukraine, and European partners coordinated their approaches to ending the war. U.S. Special Representative Steve Witkoff stated that key topics included security guarantees for Ukraine, the role of NATO, and the future security architecture in Europe.

Talks in Abu Dhabi: Witkoff and Kushner will work on the territorial issue.

Ukrainian representatives arrived in Abu Dhabi on November 10, where talks involving Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia are set to take place. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:50 a.m.