On the 27th September 2022, after 22 days of illegal detention, the Russian invaders deported Liudmyla Nykytenko, a resident of the village of Oleksandrivka, who was engaged in the family farm there, from the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region. The documenters of the Association have recorded many cases of abductions and illegal detention of residents in Zaporizhzhia. Liudmyla Nykytenko is one of them.

On 5th September, a minibus drove up to her house. Seven armed men entered the house without introducing themselves. One of them stood out the most, with a red beard resembling a Chechen. Another military man seemed nervous, constantly pounding his fist on the table.

The men searched the house meticulously, especially focusing on the room of Liudmyla's daughter, Khrystyna. The girl had left the country on the first day of the war. Liudmyla often communicated with her, telling her news from the occupied territory and discussing the presence of Russian troops in the village.

During the search, the Russian soldiers confiscated Liudmyla and her husband's passports, allowed her to put on a tracksuit and jacket, and then shoved her into a minibus. On the way, she realized they were taking her to the Melitopol pre-trial detention center.

"I was held together with another woman in one of eleven cells. My cell had a toilet, two beds, a table, chairs, a broken sink and a broken toilet. All the interior items were built into the floor. The only bedding was a pillow and a mattress, which I was given on the second day. The temperature in the cell depended on the weather outside. To keep warm, I would put on a hat and hood, put a pillow on my feet and cover myself with a jacket."

Depressing music and chanson were played in the detention centre every day at six in the morning.

The Russian national anthem was often played. During the 22 days of captivity, they were issued military rations twice.

"My cellmate's relatives sent her soap, which we used to wash our hair with.On the 13th day of captivity, I needed sanitary pads. I told the guard about it, and he assured me that he would pass them on to the right person.They did bring them to me, but three days later. At the same time, they gave me one roll of toilet paper, a toothbrush and toothpaste," says Nykytenko.

The man who guarded Liudmyla and the other prisoners was called Serhii, his call sign was 'Dobryi'. He was indeed relatively loyal to the prisoners. He sometimes fed them cookies and gave them cigarettes.

Liudmyla saw representatives of the DPR quasi-entity and the Russians themselves during interrogations. They took place on the second, third and fifteenth day of her confinement in the detention centre.

"The first interrogation was conducted by a nervous man who was among those who detained me, as well as the investigator. I had a hat on my face - it was impossible to see anything around me. The investigator asked me questions about my daughter, asked if it was true that I had given information. They demanded that I speak Russian. I am Ukrainian-speaking, and in order to answer in Russian, I needed time to formulate an answer. Every time I thought about it, a madman would hit me on the head, but he did it in such a way as not to leave marks on my face," the woman says.

After the first interrogation, Nykytenko was given a sheet of paper and told to write down everything she knew. The woman wrote that she had unintentionally told her child and friends who had left the occupation about the news of collaborators, equipment and the visits of looters from the 'DPR' to the village.

On 27 September, in the morning, Liudmyla was again put in a bag over her head, put in a car and driven towards Zaporizhzhia. They said they were taking her to be executed. Beyond Melitopol, they told her that she would be deported to Ukraine in Vasylivka.

Liudmyla managed to remember the call sign of one of the men who was taking her - Topaz. He spoke pure Russian.

"The men who accompanied me understood Ukrainian and could even speak it. They said: "Communicate as you like, we are Khokhly". I think they were from Crimea, Melitopol or the 'DPR', but they positioned themselves as FSB. They asked me about my attitude to Stepan Bandera. They were outraged: "You went to a Soviet school! You got a free education, you were a Komsomol member and a pioneer".

During one of the stops, Liudmyla was handed over to other soldiers, who took her to the last checkpoint, put her next to the Russian tricolour and ordered her to say "Glory to Russia".

"I refused," she adds. "They read aloud that I was being deported because supposedly I obstructed the new authorities from establishing order and interfered with holding a referendum. As I walked away, I heard behind me: 'She's gone with too much pride! Let's throw a grenade at her.' Another said, 'Better to shoot her,'and a third: 'No, she won't duck yet, let her go'.

Liudmyla walked about 50 kilometres through the grey zone to reach the first Ukrainian checkpoint.