“Hello, Mom, Dad! I am in captivity in a prisoner-ofwar camp. Conditions are normal, we have three meals a day, there is heating.We have a TVset, we watch russian news. New Kakhovka has been on TV severaltimes. They promise to exchange us, but I don't know when it will happen…” – this is the beginning of the last message of the detainedresident of Nova Kakhovka Yevhen Pryshliak received by his family on January 11, 2023 – after six months ofsilence, which continues to this day. Yevhen’s story was told to thedocumenters of the Association by the wife of the detainee’s brother, LiubovPryshliak.

On August 12,2022, Yevhen with his dog went to stay overnight at a friend’s house. The nextday, a neighbor reported that the guys were detained by the russian militaryaround midnight.    

“Our father went immediately to the military commandant’soffice, where they confirmed that Yevhen was there, but gave no furtherinformation. They said that we could bring food every day and they would passit on to him,” told LiubovPryshliak.

The fatheronce managed to see his son repairing the military administration building, buthe could not tell him any details. Yevhen managed to pass notes to his family,in which he wrote that he was being held in terrible conditions in a basementwhere many people were being held, among them military personnel, including thewounded. They had to sleep standing or sitting on wooden pallets. Moreover,people released from that place said that prisoners were tortured, inparticular, with electric shock.

On themorning of October 19, when the father brought food to the commandant’s office,the officer on duty told him that all the detainees had been taken away and newones had been brought in, adding that Pryshliak might have been taken toCrimea. The family found out that Yevhen was kept in a prisoner-of-war camp onthe premises of military unit 06984 located in Sevastopol, and it was from thisplace that the letter was sent to the family. The parents sent a reply to it,but Yevhen did not receive it – on January 10, he was transferred again.

In April, theRegional Directorate of the Military Police for the Southern Military Districtof the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that YevhenPryshliak had been detained for opposing the so-called “special militaryoperation” and were being kept in the territory of the Russian Federation. Itis known that during this time they were transferred several times to differentregions of the Russian Federation. The exact whereabouts of Yevhen arecurrently unknown.

“We would like to draw attention of our authorities tothis situation. Please do not abandon our guys! Like prisoners of war, they, aspatriots of Ukraine, also deserve to be released from captivity and returnedhome,” appeals Liubov Pryshliak on behalf of the relativesof the civilian hostages.

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