WESTERN UKRAINE — Thousands of Russian soldiers taken captive by Ukraine are receiving the best medical care and food they ever have in their lives — and none of those interviewed by The Post say they support the war.
The Post last week went inside the largest of Ukraine’s five camps for Russian POWs hundreds of miles from the front lines to speak with prisoners about their treatment at the facility, their views on the bloody conflict and how they ended up fighting in it.
Most of the more than 25 Russian soldiers who spoke to The Post said they only joined the war to provide for their families.
If you’re willing to become cannon fodder, it’s an instant job, explained a 20-year-old soldier with a wife and four children to support.
Their time as POWs in Ukraine is in stark contrast to that of the thousands of Ukrainian prisoners of Russia who are regularly beaten to the point of brain damage and broken bones and starved so they appear as gaunt as Holocaust victims upon release — that is, if they aren’t shot first, according to testimonies and photos of survivors.
The ‘lucky’ ones
The Ukrainian camp is calm: No sudden movements, no sadness or happiness, either. While a few of the captured Russian soldiers sat and played chess with one another, no obvious camaraderie was seen between them.
But despite their stoic faces, the prisoners here know they are the “lucky” ones, said Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs spokesman Petro Yatsenko.
For every one Russian troop captured, roughly a thousand more have been killed in the war.
Since the war’s start, Ukrainian soldiers has been killing Russians on a scale of roughly three to one, according to Ukraine. Kyiv is currently taking out about 1,000 Russian fighters each day, Yatsenko said.
The Russian prisoners at the camp know they are not only lucky to have survived the carnage, they also realize the care they are receiving is worlds better than what their Ukrainian counterparts get.
The Russians’ broken bones are examined with state-of-the-art X-ray machines, dental exams and treatments — often the first the Russians have ever had — are performed on them when needed, and new warm clothing, three pairs of shoes and fresh toiletries are doled out upon each Moscow prisoner’s intake.
Their original clothing is collected and washed and stashed away for their eventual release. That’s the ultimate goal of the entire operation: to return the Russian troops to Moscow in exchange for Ukrainian POWs.
Generally, the longer a prisoner has been in Ukraine’s custody, the fatter they are, too.
Though each Russian POW spoke to The Post of wanting to return home, none said they hoped to return to the fight — and that’s exactly where Russia would send them if they are released before the war ends.
“I was [drafted.] They took us to the assembly point, and from there, we started transporting anyone who could fight,” a prisoner named Anatoly said. “I would not love to kill someone and take their lives. But that was the fate and circumstances.
“I don’t see the point in shedding blood both here and there,” he said. “There are so many ways to solve problems.”
While the Russian soldiers are in the fight because of physical or economic coercion, the Ukrainian fighters see their cause as noble and worth dying for to save their country.
Ukrainian amputees with whom The Post spoke with in Irpin during US special envoy Gen. Keith Kellogg’s visit last week carried this spirit.
Even missing arms and legs, about half of the 20 or so Ukrainian troops with whom The Post and the general spoke indicated they wanted to return to the front lines to continue battling for their country.
Russia also has wounded soldiers fighting in its ranks — but by force. Recently, intelligence videos have been circulating online that show Moscow troops marching forward on crutches as their fellow comrades push them forward at gunpoint.
Forced to fight
None of the Russian POWs interviewed for this story said they support the war.
The prisoners at the facility here said they arrived anywhere from a few days to more than two and a half years ago.
Russia doesn’t seem to want them back, either: The Kremlin will publicly announce that it wants a prisoner exchange, then decline to take the men when Kyiv calls, Yatsenko said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed out this situation in his explosive exchange with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House on Friday, noting that his country has tried to make prisoner exchange deals with Russia, who has rejected such offers time and again.
It’s another example of how little Moscow cares about humanity — even its own people.
Long before the Russian soldiers were prisoners of war, most were captives of circumstance — having no ability to make money in Russia or even get a driver’s license without joining the military or conscription orders. Others were Russian criminals that Moscow released from prison to fight in the war.
At first, the Russian POWs will say they began their military service to “protect the motherland.” But with the slightest follow-up question — “What does the motherland need protection from?” — that claim falls apart.
“They called us to the military registration and enlistment office. [The official there] offered good money and benefits for the family,” said Denis Makarov, a Russian POW who was being treated by the Ukrainians for a gunshot wound to leg.
“I decided to go for the sake of my family, so that the family had prosperity and my relatives had everything fine and benefits — and I kind of went to defend the homeland.”
The Post asked Makarov, “Defend it from what?”
He replied, “To be honest, I didn’t really think [Russia] was under attack.
“It’s just that I went more because of finances and my two children and a wife in Astrakhan had very little income. There was a catastrophic shortage of money,” Makarov said.
“And that is why we have so many soldiers in Russia. They are like me,” he added.
Most Russian troops who The Post interviewed said they joined the war to provide for their families.
Others, such as Dmitry Nikolaevich, said they took up arms simply because it was better than rotting in Russian prisons — and even at that, they weren’t given a choice. Moscow has forced more than 180,000 of its prisoners to invade Ukraine.
Nikolaevich was born in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, parts of which have been under Russian occupation since Moscow’s initial invasion in 2014. He spent eight years in Russian prisons — his crimes were not clear — before he was forced to fight for his jailers.
“I really want this war to end,” he said.
“We, the people of Donbas, including all the people of Ukraine, raised Ukraine from its knees after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We did it all — the economy was better than that of Russia and better than many countries,” he said.
“Who even came up with [the idea of this war] — European provocations or Russia?”
Caring for the enemy
Ukraine’s dignified care of the Russian POWs is a tough pill to swallow for many of the families of Kyiv’s soldiers held by Russia.
The kin struggle with the idea that Ukrainian tax dollars are being spent on the very people who tried to kill their own sons and daughters, Yatsenko said.
“Every day, our guys and girls are tortured, so it’s very hard to explain to their families. They say that all the [Russian POWs] should be killed immediately,” he said. “But we explain that we need them to provide the next prisoner swaps, so we are keeping them healthy just to preserve their lives for the next trade.
“We need them to take ours back from these very ugly conditions the Russians provide.
“We should treat them well because we are humanistic and we are not like Russians,” he added. “Maybe this war with Russia is because of this difference — Ukrainians are very keen, the Ukrainians have enough food, the Ukrainians like coziness. Most Russians do not have this.
“For us, we give this even to our enemies.“
When prisoner exchanges happen, most of the Ukrainians who come back arrive with health problems ranging from malnutrition to serious injury or amnesia from repeated beatings to the head.
But they at least survived a rising trend of Russians executing Ukrainian surrenderers at point-blank range instead of taking them prisoner in accordance with the Geneva Convention.
The Post reached out to multiple Ukrainian veterans who returned from Russian captivity. While some detailed horrors of their time there, none wanted to speak publicly for fear of Moscow cracking down even harder on the POWs still under their control.
One Ukrainian recently released after spend 33 months in Russian captivity said he had experienced intensified beatings and worsened treatment after returning POWs detailed their torture to the media while he was still in custody.
The idea was to make clear to the Ukrainian captives that their brothers in arms would pay if they spoke out, several said — a concept that apparently worked on some.
“There are some things I don’t talk about publicly: details of the conditions of detention, the regime of detention, stories about the use of physical force, etc.,” he said. “All this can harm those who remain there.”
