'I was forced to confess' Ukrainian man held by Russians tells of torture ordeal

The first moments in Russian captivity for Maksym Butkevych included humiliations that would pale in comparison with what would follow. Taken prisoner in the early months of the war in Ukraine in 2022, Butkevych and his fellow soldiers - who had been lured into a trap on the eastern frontline - at first were punched and robbed.

- Peter Beaumont

Kyiv

"There were a few kicks and punches," said Butkevych, who had been a human rights defender and journalist before Russia's invasion compelled him to volunteer as a soldier.

"They took watches and other stuff. When a soldier picked up my earphones and asked whose they were, he said: 'Will you give them to me as a present?' Even though I was kneeling with the barrel of a gun against my head, I told him no."

However, the treatment would become much darker amid a pattern of harsh beatings, torture and the threat of execution and sexual violence aimed at extracting a coerced "confession" for an imaginary crime.

Butkevych's testimony adds granular detail to a body of evidence of Russia's mistreatment of captured Ukrainians, including show trials, field executions and torture.

What happened to Butkevych took place despite an international campaign seeking his proper treatment and safe release after he was smeared in the Russian media and threatened with a show trial.

Hands and legs tied, the next stage in Butkevych's journey was to an unfinished building outside Luhansk where he and the other soldiers were treated with a cruelty that would become commonplace.

"There was an officer who behaved in a far more nasty way, trying to provoke us," Butkevych said. "He asked who was married and we're kneeling in front of him. He asked where the soldiers' wives were. One answered 'in Poland' and another said 'in Germany'. He started to talk about what their wives were doing sexually in sick detail. I thought: 'This officer has severe problems.'"

The next morning Butkevych and his fellow soldiers were shown to a visiting group of commanders and propagandists and were told they would be filmed to show that they were being treated well. "They seemed intrigued by me as the only officer," Butkevych said.