Kyiv told about the trade in captured Ukrainians in Russia

Chechen soldiers buy captured Ukrainian soldiers from various Russian units, take them to Grozny, and then exchange them for their colleagues. In a conversation with the English newspaper The Times, the representative of the Ukrainian coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war, Petr Yatsenko, told about this. The publication also gives the story of one of the soldiers sold in this way.

A 41-year-old citizen of Ukraine, Vyacheslav Levitsky, said that he was captured by the Russians in February of last year, when he was wounded in both legs during a night raid near the village of Avdeevka in the Donetsk region. According to him, the Russian military did not provide him with medical assistance, but after a few days, he was transferred to a Chechen unit.

Levitskyi was taken to Grozny and hospitalized – due to the lack of treatment and the frost, both legs and arms were amputated. When his condition stabilized, the Ukrainian was sent to the basement, where there were still about 60 of his fellow citizens. In June last year, some were exchanged for Kadyrov residents, Levytsky claims.

In July 2023, the story of Levitskyi was also told by the Ukrainian TV channel TNS. It follows from the plot that the Ukrainian was kept in the basement twice – first in Donetsk, and then in Grozny. In addition, the name of the second soldier, who was also captured together with Levitsky, was named – Sergey Potremai.

According to Potremai, he stayed in the basement of the supporters of the separatist DPR for a month and a half – he was beaten, hit with a stun gun, threatened to be shot, and starved. After that, the group was transferred to Kadyrovtsy. Potremai claims that there were 39, not 60, other Ukrainian soldiers in the basements in Grozny, and on June 11, 2023, only nine of them were exchanged.

The exact number of Ukrainian prisoners taken to Chechnya is unknown. It is also unknown whether such sales continue at the present time and how widespread this practice is. The military and leadership of Chechnya do not comment on the situation. The rights of prisoners of war are protected by international conventions, their violation is considered a war crime by international law.

• At the beginning of this year, Ramzan Kadyrov offered to exchange Ukrainian prisoners of war for the lifting of US sanctions on his family. This news outraged even Russian pro-war bloggers – the head of Chechnya was accused of trading in “live goods”. After that, he called his statement “trolling”, however, polled by the editors of Kavkaz.Realii, politicians are convinced: initially the proposal was serious, which means that Western sanctions against the Russian elite are really working.
• Kadyrov prisoners of war in Ukraine wait for exchange much faster than servicemen of other divisions of the Russian army. This was stated by the author of the Ukrainian Telegram channel “Looking for my own” Vladimir Zolkin and the commander of the Georgian Legion fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Mamuk Mamulashvili.
• One of the Akhmatovs captured under Bakhmut said that the Kadyrovs “protect their own” and send them to storm units where there are almost no natives of Chechnya. The editors of Kavkaz.Realii studied the video recordings of the past interrogations of the captive fighters of “Akhmat”, almost all of them are really not related to the republic and fell into the ranks of the Chechen unit by accident. Many claim insufficient equipment, lack of communication with the command and inequality with fighters of Chechen origin.