This is the heartbreaking moment police officers stepped onto Ukrainian soil for the first time after two years in a ‘filtration’ camp in Russia.
Mariana Checheliuk was among 75 prisoners of war (PoWs) returned on several buses that drove to the northern Sumy region on Saturday morning.
Her story – captured in the Azovstal steel plant and then tortured in a Russian detention center – is emblematic of the siege and fall of Mariupol.
The city, in southeastern Ukraine, has been under siege since the beginning of the first week of the invasion and is now largely under the control of Kremlin forces.
The 24-year-old survived physical and mental torture at the hands of his captors, as he was moved between Russian facilities in Donetsk, Yelenovka, Taganrog, Kamyshin and Mariupol.
In March 2022, as Russian soldiers tighten their grip on Mariupol, Mariana and her sister Alina take refuge in the Azovstal bunker, the last bastion for many trapped in the besieged city.
When the green corridor was opened to civilians, Mariana was denied because of her role in the National Police of Ukraine.
He only worked in the police service for about a year before the full-scale invasion of Russia.
Vitalii’s father told Mezha media that after graduating from the Kharkiv Police Academy, his daughter started working as an investigatorwith
He said: ‘Mariana is a zoo volunteer, she loves dogs very much, before and after work she cooks dog food and feeds the animals on the street.
‘My younger daughter, Alina, was in ninth grade when the invasion started.’
Mariana was starved, beaten, and abused while confined in a Russian camp.
Due to these conditions, his health deteriorated. Respiratory diseases and sore throat develop into chronic bronchitis.
She lost a lot of weight, her immune system weakened, her hair even started falling out, and her periods stopped.
Nataliia’s mother told the ZMINA news outlet that Russian forces even tried to harm her.
‘They tried to lure him to the Russian side with sweet promises of salaries and intimidation. But he refused,” he said.
During her two years in captivity, Mariana was only allowed to speak to her family, and only sent a few letters explaining her deteriorating health.
A video of him on the bus to Sumi shows him reciting a poem he wrote while in detention: ‘I miss my mother so much, to tell you about my situation there.
‘How I long for your eyes, how I want to end my life. How I suffered and suffered, how I was terrified.
‘How every scream and knock makes my own name disappear from my head. How I asked for his help, and he gave me strength every day.
‘How I was getting ready to go, but it wasn’t always me. There are no words to express all the pain. I don’t have faith that everything will work out. There is no hope that Ukraine will be saved.
‘Maybe I’ll go back to my mother. Not! I’ll be back, hear? I will come in the morning. In your heart, you will feel me close. I will shout that forever I am free. I miss my father and home. Mom, I will always remember you. This horror is called Russian captivity.’
Marina looked almost numb when she got off the bus in Sumi. Ukrainian PoWs include four civilians.
When they got off, they shouted with joy and called their families to tell them they were home.
Some knelt down and kissed the ground, while many wrapped themselves in blue and yellow flags and hugged each other, until they cried. Many of them looked thin and underdressed.
The exchange of 150 PoW in total is the fourth such swap this year and the 52nd since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
In exchange, including Friday, Ukraine has regained 3,210 members of the Ukrainian military and civilians.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia has disclosed the total number of PoWs. The UN report says that the majority of Ukrainian PoWs are subject to routine medical neglect, severe and systematic mistreatment, and even torture during detention.
There have also been isolated reports of abuse by Russian soldiers, mostly during capture or transit to internment sites.
At least a third of the Ukrainians who returned home suffered from ‘injuries, severe illnesses, and disabilities’.
Contact the news team by emailing webnews@metro.co.uk.
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