This testimony was provided to the Association's documenters by an abducted resident of the small town of Polohy in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, which was occupied on 3th March 2022. During his six days of captivity, which seemed like an eternity, he experienced systematic beatings, humiliation and witnessed the execution of his acquaintance.

In the evening of 7th March, the man was walking to his cottage and suddenly met Russian soldiers. The street was unlit, so he literally crashed into the occupier's military equipment, probably an APC. The interviewee thought he would be able to sneak past, but the lights in the vehicle went out and he was seen. The soldiers immediately dragged him to a tree, tying his hands and feet with plastic straps.

"One of the occupiers pointed a pistol at my forehead, and the other one pointed a machine gun at my chest. They took my cigarettes, lighter, phone, flashlight and passport. They were looking at social media on the phone, photos from the gallery, everything. One of the Telegram channels showed a message: "Don't tell anyone about the movements of the Ukrainian Armed Forces". The military began to interrogate me: what kind of communication was this, who my relatives were, where my daughter was studying, where I had served. After the inspection, they only returned my passport."

The man was tied to a tree for a long time. Only when dawn broke, they untied his legs and sat him near the gates, where they kept him until morning. The marks from the restraints remained on the hostage for a long time after his release, which he asked to loosen, but they refused him.

"They blindfolded me, but I managed to catch a glimpse of something. Several 'tigers' arrived, and officers emerged from them—clean, tidy, in green-yellow camouflage. The military asked the leadership what to do with me. They said to bring me onto the headquarters' territory."

They sat the man near the headquarters on the street. They began to examine his body for signs of a rifle butt or tattoos—trying to understand if the man was a soldier, but the only mark on the hostage was a bloodstain on his chest. Later, they took the man to the basement and after some time began to interrogate him. They threatened him with a pistol and beat him, asking if he knew anything about the Ukrainian Army or where they hide weapons. He knew nothing about any of it."

"I spent a week in the basement. Every day they beat me with gun casings on the joints, head, struck weights on my knees, punched ribs with fists. Once a day, they gave me half-eaten dry rations, pâtés, and wrinkled apples. The only glimmer of light was on the ceiling where the pipe entered the concrete. When they let me out to the toilet, I saw this basement completely and understood that I was not the only hostage. We slept on bunk beds and were constantly fastened with plastic handcuffs to the racks of these beds.

I met three men from the village of Semenivka. The guys said they were in the Ukrainian Army, and the occupiers kidnapped them.

The largest number of hostages who were with me was 13 people. The military came to us as if to a 'zoo' because they didn't consider us as humans there at all."

During the man's stay in the basement, one person was shot dead.

According to the witness, on that day, the Russians arrived drunk, and it was a bad day for them because they returned to the headquarters with losses. They entered the basement and started forcing the hostages to sing the Russian national anthem. They shot near the hostages' ears, calling them "freaks" and "Banderites."

"My acquaintance was sitting in a work jacket on a large paint tank. We worked together in the train depot. One of the soldiers said to another, pointing at my acquaintance: "Look at him - a real Banderite! He even has a Bandera jacket!' The occupier put an assault rifle to his head and asked: "Do you think it's time for you to die, or not?" He said quietly: "It's not time," and the occupier replied: "I think it's time," and shot him twice.He sat dead with us all night. In the morning, the soldiers came and put his body in a bag."

The hostage was released six days later - on March 13th 2022. While the man was missing, his wife and mother went to the local police station every day, but they were told that Russia was not holding civilians captive.