Interview

“Many guys were just bleeding to death. The Russians looked on indifferently”: an interview with an officer who survived Russian captivity and a terrorist attack in Olenivka

ІНТЕРВ'Ю

We are talking in one of the capital’s establishments. Arsen Dmytryk, call sign “Lemko”, is an officer and commander of the 6th Battalion of the 12th Azov Special Forces Brigade. The man talks about the defence of Mariupol, Azovstal and the terrorist attack initiated by Russians in Olenivka. The defender took a direct part in these events, which were recorded in the history of independent Ukraine. His arms are covered with scars from various injuries, but the soldier smiles and has a positive attitude, joking during the conversation. The defender told Kommersant Ukrainian about his captivity, Russian interrogations and memories of the attack.

The battle for Mariupol began immediately after the full-scale Russian invasion and lasted from 24 February to 20 May 2022. The defence of the hero city lasted 86 days, 82 of which were completely surrounded. Between 18 March and 20 May, the enemy concentrated its forces on Azovstal, which was defended by the Defence Forces to the last. on 16 May, Ukrainian defenders were taken prisoner. Most of them were Azovites.

During the siege of Mariupol and Azovstal, did you have a premonition that you would have to take prisoners?

When we were defending Mariupol, we had very heavy losses among our personnel, especially the wounded. We even joked that five contusions are not contusions, five shrapnel fragments are not wounds. The problem was that we did not know how to treat the wounded. All of our humanitarian missions that were supposed to reach Azovstal did not because they were scattered by the enemy. And we reached the point where we were giving our first aid kits to the guys at the hospital because they needed bandages, painkillers and medicines. This was one of the most important arguments when we were ordered to leave Azovstal. Commander Redis (call sign of the Azov Regiment commander Denis Prokopenko – ed.) then called all the commanders together for a meeting and explained the task. Each of us expressed our opinion, and a vote was taken. We all voted unanimously in favour of the surrender, as we understood that our guys had to be saved. There was also a moment when we tried to take the guys out through the humanitarian corridor, through the Red Cross, through the UN.

Did you succeed?

Unfortunately, no. But we did not know that it would happen. We were routinely lied to by Russia, so that we would withdraw our guys. Then they told us that there was a minus in the number of wounded. And then the guys were brought back. And the Russians, using drones, saw where our wounded were in the bomb shelters. And after that, they started hitting those places 24/7 with missiles, aircraft and artillery. And it got to the point where we couldn’t even bring our wounded to hospitals because they were under enemy fire 24/7. This factor and medicines are the most important. If it wasn’t for the guys, we could have left Azovstal in small groups. But we, as commanders, could not leave our men behind.

How many personnel could fully participate in the fighting and how many were wounded?

There were about 600 wounded. Of these, 450 were seriously wounded.

What about your inner feelings? How did you prepare yourself for the fact that you would have to be taken prisoner? After all, many people compare Russian captivity to German Auschwitz.

When we were captured, we realised that we would not be exchanged in a year or two. We laughed that we would all be there for life, or 25 years. If we were all depressed, it would be a disaster. For us, the main thing was that we are a big family at Azov, we are all friends, we know each other well. But whatever one may say, when we were even assigned to barracks, even in Olenivka, you go in and half of your friends are there. It was much easier to be there because you felt supported. Good company, no depression. It was funny when they checked us there, because they made a show of it.

It is said that Russians dislike Azovs in captivity the most. Can you confirm or deny this?

It is true. Until 2014, they had “Banderites” who travelled to Crimea by train. Then, for about a year or two, they spoke for the Right Sector, and then switched to Azov. We even had such cases that when we were in hospital after the terrorist attack in Olenivka, children aged 7-8 were brought to us to watch the Azov fighters. This is how their propaganda works. It was ridiculous for us.

How did this happen? Did they just show you to the children? And what did they say?

Yes, they did. Even the guards came to watch. Separately, they told us that we drink people’s blood and eat people. That we were blasphemers and pagans.

I’ll go back to the moment of your capture from Azovstal. Where were you taken after that?

I was taken to Olenivka. The worst thing for me was that I was limited in my actions. There were moments when they could come to us at one o’clock in the morning and say: “Get your things and go out”. And you don’t know what awaits you next, whether you will see your comrades again. The unknown and uncertainty about the next day scared me. It happened that when I was in the hospital, they came to me and told me to get ready as if I was going for an exchange. They put a bag on my head and brought me back to Olenivka.

Were you subjected to physical violence during interrogation?

There was no physical violence against me personally. I am an officer, plus a major. And I was interrogated by senior officers – lieutenant colonels and colonels. The lowest position was a major. I learnt to communicate a little with people of different ranks, but I kept the bar without crossing the red lines. Of course, they could hit me with a book on the head, but nothing critical happened. I told the guys: “If you are captured, speak up. There is nothing so terrible here.”

Was there a guarantee that you would be left alive?

What a guarantee. They blew us up in the barracks. But we are psychologically prepared people, because of our experience. Think of people three years ago, if an air raid warning had sounded. There would have been horror and panic. Now, when there is a siren, people are already relaxed. It’s the same for us, the military.

What information did the Russians want to get during the interrogations?

30 per cent was about Mariupol, about service and other standard things. And 70% of it was about “everything and nothing”. That Poland has taken over Western Ukraine and the zloty is already circulating there. Or that America is at war with us. Well, it was more with the FSB. With the GRU it was different, because they are more intellectually interesting. They were on a first-name basis, everything was very cultural. It was harder for them to say something, because it was impossible to just change the subject. They asked specific questions, and if I tried to evade the answer, they would bring me back to the question. The DPR was a problem. It was a “garage pop” group that got to power.

About the terrorist attack, preparation and chronology of events

On the night of 28-29 July 2022, Russia carried out a terrorist attack against Ukrainian prisoners of war - defenders of Azovstal in Mariupol - who were at that time held in the penitentiary in Olenivka, officially known as Volnovakha Penitentiary Colony No. 120. Fifty-three prisoners have been confirmed dead and over 130 wounded. According to the Russians, there were 193 people in the barracks. 

Before the attack, did you feel that something might happen? Were there any phenomena that foreshadowed it?

We communicated with each other, we had our own, let’s call it internal mail. We passed notes to each other through the windows. There was information that the barracks, that is, the building itself, was being prepared. We did not know what exactly it was for. There was information that it was supposedly for other prisoners, and that someone was being transferred somewhere. The general information was that we were to be taken to Horlivka and transferred to another colony.

Do you remember the events of the night before the attack in chronological order? What was going on?

We were lined up and taken to the same barracks. It was a hastily made room. You could tell by the construction. And it was not designed for such a large number of personnel. There were 198 of us. And it was designed for a maximum of 100. Even the fence was barely equipped, it could be easily broken. By the way, this is what saved us on the day of the attack. During the day, we were locked inside the barracks. They said that they were turning on the lights for us from outside. But we did not see what they were doing.

Perhaps this was preparation for the terrorist attack?

It could have been. Plus, the guards who were with us were digging trenches outside. When we were being lined up, we saw this and wondered why they were doing it. We slept on our heads. There were not enough mattresses for everyone, pillows too. The hygiene was terrible. And with water too. The colony elder came and said that we were here temporarily to clean up the other barracks. I was the senior in the barracks. It was very hot inside, and I asked to open the windows because there was no air to breathe. We were not allowed to do so. In the evening, I made rounds. And at 22:30, they called for a curfew. I went to sleep in the middle, on the top tier. If you look at the photos of the burnt barracks, you can see the metal tiles that fell. It hit my bed right on top of it.

At about 23:15, the first explosion occurred. It was outside the territory. We woke up and looked to see if the windows were smashed. But everything was fine, we continued to sleep. And then I woke up feeling hot. Everything was on fire around me. I looked at myself and realised I was covered in blood. I pushed away the metal tiles and went down. My brothers were lying there. It was too late to take their pulse. Those who could walk more or less pulled out the heavy ones. This saved more lives. There were cases when they jumped into the fire and pulled out the bodies of already dead guys so that they would not get burned. The bodies that were on the video were already mixed with iron, and it was very hot. They locked us in from the outside. We were breaking everything out.

So, when this happened, no one from the guard came?

The guards ran away immediately. The guys tore out the netting, broke down the gate, and started to go outside. The fire was getting even bigger, and we went to the outer perimeter because slates and metal tiles were already falling. The guards were standing on the third perimeter, just watching. And then they started shooting in the air to keep us away from the gate. All the wounded were gathered on the second perimeter. The guards were standing on a tower and shooting in the air. We asked for medicines, water, bandages to bandage the wounded. We tore our clothes completely to stop the bleeding. Then they still dropped a minimal amount of bandages.

About half an hour later, our captive medics came. They had medicines with them and began to provide first aid. Many of the guys were bleeding to death, and the Russians were watching in silence. It lasted until 5 am. We divided ourselves by priority for evacuation. We also recorded everyone’s data. Because they didn’t want to evacuate us otherwise. And at 05:30, the first KamAZ arrived. It was not an ambulance, but a KamAZ truck, where they loaded those who did not walk. They were just thrown in there as if they were not people. In the first one, one of our men did not make it. I was in the second one. They were driving us like cattle. And they knew very well who they were taking. And the fact that they said they had no lists is not true. They counted and photographed everyone.

Why didn’t they want to publish the lists right away?

They came up with their own version of HIMARS. Some of them were sent to the DIZO(disciplinary isolation facility on the territory of the colony – ed .) And then they took me to Donetsk hospital. I ended up there. They treated me normally, operated on me. I stayed there for a month. And then I was taken back to Olenivka, where I was interrogated.

Did they ask you about the terrorist attack?

They wanted to beat out of us the alleged confirmation that it was our HIMARS that hit, and to convince us that the state and our authorities did not need us. I told them: “Don’t you know what a HIMARS strike looks like? It would have demolished everything here.” They said: “Yeah, you’re right”.

After you were brought to Olenivka, what happened next?

I stayed there for a month. I was summoned for interrogation and told that I was going to Donetsk. I packed my bag and waited. A guard came and said: “Dmytro, come out with your things”. Then they started calling others. And we were being formed for 6 hours. We realised that this was a stage. They taped our eyes shut, put us in KAMAZ trucks and drove us with our eyes closed to Taganrog. We were beaten all the way. If anything, it’s softer to hit with a baton than with a rifle butt (laughs – ed.) And in Taganrog, we were put on planes. And we flew to Moscow, to a civilian airport, I don’t remember which one. There, they put our people on the plane. And some of them were taken away. Volyn –(call sign of Serhiy Volynskyi, acting commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade – ed.) was taken to Turkey. After that, we flew to Gomel in Belarus. And from there we were transferred to buses. And there, we were brought to our border. Our representative came in and said: “Glory to Ukraine!”.

How did you feel at that moment?

We had only been away from everything for a few weeks. We did not understand who had survived. After all, many of our men were disbanded, and we did not see each other after the attack. For example, I was buried. But it turned out that I was alive(laughs – ed.)

Did your relatives meet you?

At first, we were taken to the hospital. They gave us phones and I called my family. And then they took me to Kyiv. We met there.

What was the reaction of your family?

They said that I had lost a lot of weight. I even had cubes. It took me a month to adapt. Then they started shelling Kyiv, and then there was a blackout. But I had a maximum of two months for everything. And after that, we started forming a new battalion. I had no time for depression.

How did you feel after all those events?

I couldn’t sleep for two weeks. But I didn’t pay attention to it. You see, in captivity we were in an information vacuum. And when I returned, I had to get used to it, look at our weapons and understand how to form a battalion. I visited a psychiatrist, because it was necessary for rehabilitation. And he asked me: “Do you plan to continue your service?” I said yes. And then he said: “If you want to go back to civilian life, then come to me”.

War is a drug. So I continued my service. In January 2023, we formed the first battalion. In May, we took part in a counter-offensive in the Zaporizhzhia sector. After recovery, we went to the Kreminna direction. We are currently based there. In February, I was ordered to form another battalion. And now I am in charge of forming the sixth battalion.

When you come to Kyiv, what do you feel when you see that the city continues to live and sometimes forgets about the war?

This is the right thing to do. And it is necessary. I don’t understand why they took down the Christmas trees for the New Year. I want to come home and see a Christmas tree for the holiday. And I’m told that it’s not the right time because of the war. So what? We, the military, need to rest. So I believe that life goes on, even despite the war.

What advice can you give to soldiers who have just been released from captivity?

The best recovery is at home, with your family. And do not hesitate to visit psychologists. There are already those who know how to work with the military and can help. So there is no need to keep your feelings inside. Ask for help, there is nothing critical about it.

The author: Elizaveta Nesvit

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