Former Ukrainian prisoners recount horrors of captivity in Israel
On December 17, a meeting of the Ukrainian community with a delegation from the NGO “VOICE OF UKRAINE”took place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Tel Aviv, during the organization’s visit to Israel, the Embassy of Ukraine in Israel reported.
The event was opened by Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel, Yevhen Korniychuk. Also participating in the opening were Anna Zharova, CEO of Israeli Friends of Ukraine, and Yulia Pavlyuk, representative of the Coordination Headquarters for Prisoner of War Affairs.
They emphasized the importance of systematic international support for Ukraine and the release of all illegally detained citizens.
A central part of the meeting was the testimony of former Ukrainian prisoners of war, who endured prolonged Russian captivity. Volodymyr Mykolayenko, former mayor of Kherson, and Dmytro Khilyuk, journalist for the UNIAN news agency, spoke to the audience.
They spent 1,230 and 1,271 days in Russian captivity respectively — over three years under constant pressure, humiliation, and physical abuse. Their accounts served as a direct, vivid documentation of Russian crimes against civilians and members of Ukrainian society.
The former prisoners detailed illegal detentions, transfers, and stays in places of confinement, where they encountered inhuman conditions.
According to them, the conditions were deliberately humiliating, with constant psychological pressure and brutal torture. They spoke of physical pain, prolonged interrogations, lack of medical care, and attempts to break their moral resistance.
