Thread by @Mylovanov

An incredibly tough but fascinating interview with Ukrainian military medic Yuriy Armash. Yuriy was captured by Russians in the early days of the war and recently released in a prisoners' swap. In captivity, he helped hundreds of tortured Ukrainians to survive. A must read 1/

Y: I was in Oleshky when Russia invaded. I was waiting to be discharged from my unit. On Feb 24th, helicopters landed in the middle of the town. Russian forces came down, unmarked but recognizable. People tried to escape, some were filming, others were panic buying 2/

Y: I tried to leave for Kherson, but no car picked me up. I went back to my rented apartment. I met Ukrainian tank operators from my brigade. Soon, gunshots and artillery fire broke out. It was us against the Russian forces. 3/

Y: A couple of days later, two young guys found refuge in my basement. I later learned they were Ukrainian soldiers. We stuck together hiding, and I assured them Ukraine'd retake Oleshky soon. 4/

Y: On April 3rd, 5 weeks into the war, we decided it was too risky to continue to stay and decided to escape the occupation. We arranged transport to Zaporizhzhia for 17K UAH ($500). Our driver was vetted and cleared, but the challenge was reaching him in Nova Kakhovka. 5/

Y: My heart pounded as we left. In our town, we had to pass through a corridor filled with Russian troops, risking being stopped and questioned. Miraculously, we made it through. Following Google Maps, we skirted along the right side of the road. 6/

Y: Out of town, we walked through the fields, out of sight. We passed two Russian checkpoints afar unscathed. But at the third, they spotted us and opened fire. We tried to flee, but when I heard bullets whizzing past us, I yelled at the guys to stop and not move. 7/

Y: They arrested us thinking we were Ukrainian spies. They took us to their tent, took our phones, stripped us, and roughed us up quite a bit. They were "DNR" soldiers, speaking either Russian or a mix of Russian and Ukrainian. 8/

Y: In the morning, the commander and a well-equipped soldier took us to Nova Kakhovka. They said it was a routine document check, but we knew it wasn't when we saw Russian flags everywhere. 9/

Y: At the police station, they suspected us of being Ukrainian spies. They stripped us, checked for tattoos, and began to beat us. One guy had a lot of tattoos and got hit more. I have tattoos too, but got less of it. 10/

Y: We stood tied up for an hour, insisting we were civilians. Then the leader came, poked me with a baton and said, "Why are you lying?" Then the real torment began. They were brutal; hitting my friend's head against the table and taping our eyes shut. 11/

Y: My cell was about 5-6 meters long and 1.7 meters wide. It had a sink, a toilet, and a window behind three bars. When they threw me in, I was shocked—there were already 16 others. Most in the cell were civilians, except for one paramedic volunteer in a uniform. 12/

Y: Interrogations began day one. They'd blindfold me and cuff my hands behind my back. They used "enthusiastic" methods—a thick sharp metal needle through the neck's skin, left hanging so I'd feel it. When they didn’t get what they wanted, they stabbed my leg with a knife. 13/

Y: Sitting down, they'd drive the knife into my upper leg until they hit bone. When they realized they wouldn't get answers, they used a military field phone, "Tapik," attaching its wires to my ears. They shocked me until I screamed. 14/

The interrogations lasted around 1.5 hours. When I returned to my cell, beaten and barely able to see from one eye, fellow prisoners were in shock. The second day-no "Tapik," just rubber truncheons and bats, hitting me on the back of my head and top, careful not to knock me out.

Y: At some point, I questioned them why they'd do this when from 2014-2022 I'd saved not just Ukrainian lives, but also those we captured, including theirs. They stopped and conversed amongst themselves but didn't torture me afterward. 16/

Y: The third interrogation took place about a week later. This time, they were more interested in my medical expertise and what I could offer. They suggested that I could work with them, providing medical aid to their soldiers. 17/

Y: I told them I wanted to go home and was not interested in their offer but added that I would provide medical aid to civilians if needed. This arrangement seemed to suit them. 18/

Y: Starting April 20th, they began taking me out to provide medical aid to civilians whom they had severely beaten. Some needed multiple dressings. I helped approximately ten people each day 19/

Y: I often had to patch people up with whatever I could find. I remember treating a woman who'd been beaten with a rubber stick. No idea why they took her or why they beat her. As for medications, the Russian troops would give some, but it was always minimal. 20/

Y: It was worse for the younger guys, up to 35-40. They were especially brutal with them. Older men received a bit of leniency. I remember two civilians and one soldier who were so severely beaten, I couldn't do much for them, despite being asked for medical help. 21/

Y: There was one man, a worker from Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station, who was chained to a safe on the second floor. One hand was tied to a radiator and the other to the safe. During "interrogations," they pulled veins out of his arms with steel wire. 22/

Y: I took one look and told them I couldn't help; the veins needed to be stitched and sealed. I could only clean and bandage the wounds. They took him away to seal the veins. He was around 48 or 49. Where he ended up, I don't know, but they released him at some point. 23/

Y: I remember another man. They broke his leg on the fourth day of captivity. They beat him so hard that the skin on his left leg burst open, breaking the bone below the knee. I bandaged him and stopped the bleeding, but I couldn't initially see the fracture. 24/

Y: Our own police, who had defected to the occupiers, were holding him. The next day, I saw a distinct bruise on the leg and immediately said it was broken, and he needed an X-ray and cast. Otherwise, he'd lose the leg. 25/

Y: They took him away, cast the leg, and brought him back, holding him for another four days. I told the Russian troops to release him. They said, "He's fine; he's got a cast." I said no, he's not fine because the collaborating police are still ruthlessly beating him. 26/

Y: They seemed to enjoy it, especially after drinking some mysterious alcohol they had. They'd go into the first cell, their "favorite," pick out a victim, and beat them until they got bored. 27/

Y: I helped around a hundred people during captivity. You see, I was working day and night; they'd often wake me up. Sometimes I even had to bandage people on the street because the abuse would start there, right in front of the police station. People would lose consciousness 28/

Y: There were night interrogations, and people had their nails ripped off. It was a lot to handle. The youngest captive, just 18 years old, was subjected to particularly cruel treatment. His toenails were ripped off. 29/

Y: I spent a long time bandaging him, as he had received no medical aid after his torture. The young man sat in his cell for about four days, his fingers starting to rot, before they finally brought me to him. 30/

Many people had head injuries, and I often came across a specific type of wound—a strange, round hole. It wasn't until after treating about twenty people with such injuries that I understood their cause. Soldiers later told me these were caused by the silencers of their rifles

Y: When escorting captives to the police station, if something displeased the Russians, they would take out the silencer and strike with the threaded end designed to attach to the rifle barrel. 32/

Y: I don't recall anyone dying from Russian torture, though I might not know everything. The occupiers would often shout things like, "Let's take him to the field and shoot him!" or "Let's drown him." I can't say for sure if they ever acted on those threats. 33/

Y: I remember one man, around 35-37 years old, who was brought in after being tortured. First, they abused him at the police station, then took him to the Dnipro River. They tied a rope around his neck, tightened it like a noose, and forced him to swim. 34/

Y: He managed to get about 20-30 meters from shore when the Russians started yanking the rope, choking him. Then they pulled him back, doused his legs in gasoline, set him on fire, and watched. 35/

Y: He screamed in pain, and they didn't put out the fire immediately. He told me this himself; I saw the aftermath—his burned legs. 36/

Y: Several times, I was taken to provide medical aid in a building next to the police station to Russians. The injuries there were usually simple—stab wounds, cuts. But once, there was a Ukrainian soldier with a fractured skull. The blow to his head was so hard, the skull cracked

Y: He said he was a driver for an MT-LB vehicle and was captured near Zaporizhzhia. When they brought him in, he was bandaged but in terrible shape, bleeding everywhere. I unwrapped his head, and knew instantly I couldn't help much. 38/

Y: Before Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, I had already seen a lot, but nothing prepared me for the brutality after that date. In the police station in Nova Kakhovka, I entered rooms that scared me. I saw saws, chainsaws, axes, machetes—all covered in blood 39/

Y: I wasn't being called in to help those who had been tortured; they were likely taken elsewhere by the Russians immediately. The room with these bloodied instruments was on the second floor of the police station. It was an ordinary office, unused for anything else 40/

Y: Once I was brought in to help a man, around 40-45 years old, possibly Georgian. The Russians had beaten his legs, attached a car battery to his ears, poured water on him, and then electrocuted him. There were even more secretive rooms in the building to which I was never taken

Y: In the police station, the occupiers forcefully removed tattoos from detained civilians that they didn't like. Some were cut out with a knife, others burned off with chemicals 42/

Y: There was a guy specifically doing this—Uncle Sasha, he was very "pious." He was well-known throughout Nova Kakhovka. He'd go to church in the morning and head to the police station in the afternoon to torment people. 43/

Y: Even though he was almost always masked, everyone recognized him by his voice. He decided which tattoos were "unholy" and removed them. 44/

When there were Buryats and Kalmyks, they'd often come into the cells with younger women, sorting them by age into separate cells. They'd take them to a different wing to sexually assault them. They'd even rape them in their cells. I could hear everything; my cell was right next

Y: The worst case involved a 14 yo girl. She was doing her best to hide the fact that she'd been assaulted. During a walk outside, I noticed she was bleeding and immediately raised alarm among the collaborating police. I yelled, "Don't you see she's hemorrhaging?" 45/

Y: The police ran to the Russian National Guard; they took her to the hospital. They gave her a shot to stop the bleeding and brought her back within an hour. She was also prescribed medication for healing; it was clear she had serious injuries. 46/

Y: During another walk outside, the girl's medication was running out. I asked her if she was okay. She seemed better; the bleeding had stopped. I asked her what had happened. She didn't want to answer initially. 47/

Y: When I asked, "Did the Russian soldiers do this to you?" she silently lowered her head. I assured her that it would stay between us. She then said, "Yes." I asked where it happened. She told me she was taken to the second floor where Russian soldiers were living. 48/

Y: They had made makeshift bedrooms, several men per room, and took her to where they slept. When I asked if there was contact, she confirmed, "Yes," and then shut down, unable to speak further. 49X

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