Chechens buy Ukrainian prisoners of war to exchange them for their soldiers - Coordination Headquarters
Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Ukrainian Coordinating Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said that Chechen fighters also buy Ukrainian prisoners from various Russian units in order to exchange them for their comrades.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to The Times.
"There were cases when our wounded were bought from the Russian army, taken to Grozny, and then exchanged for their own," he said.
The story of one such soldier, who was sold and then exchanged, also appeared on the pages of Radio Liberty's "Kavkaz.Realii" project.
Thus, 41-year-old citizen of Ukraine Vyacheslav Levitskyi said that he was captured by the Russian military in February of last year, when he was wounded in both legs during a night raid near the village of Avdiyivka, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. According to him, the Russian military did not provide him with medical aid, and after a few days he was handed over to the Chechen unit.
The man also said that after the "ransom" he was taken to Grozny. Later, due to the fact that he was not provided with qualified medical assistance, both legs and arms had to be amputated. When his condition stabilized, he was taken to the basement, where there were about 60 other Ukrainians. Later, some of them were exchanged for "Kadyrovtsi".
The Ukrainian was kept in a basement twice - first in occupied Donetsk, and then in Grozny. In addition, the name of the second soldier, who was also captured together with Levytsky, was named - Serhii Potremai.
Currently, it is not known exactly how many Ukrainians are in Chechen captivity and whether exchanges or ransoms of prisoners and their exchanges are currently being practiced. The Chechen side does not comment on this situation.
