Ukrainian civilian Roman, who asked that his surname not be published, returned to Ukraine on August 14, 2025 as part of a prisoner exchange. Before that, he had spent five years and four months in captivity: first in the self-proclaimed DPR, then in Russian detention facilities, including a remand prison in the Omsk region.
According to his account, on April 14, 2020, he was seized in Donetsk on his way to work: cars blocked his path, a bag was pulled over his head, and he was taken to a basement. There, he says, he was tortured with electric shocks, water and beatings to force confessions. He was later accused of espionage, storing explosives, distributing leaflets and participating in a terrorist organization. Roman says he signed statements under torture.
He acknowledged that from 2014 he had passed limited information to Ukraine's Security Service, the SBU, about events in Donetsk, but says investigators had no real evidence. After a staged recording showing allegedly discovered explosives, he was sentenced in the DPR to 12 years. Roman recalls that the trial outwardly followed procedure, but his legal defense was only nominal.
From 2021 to 2023 he was held in Penal Colony No. 97 in Makiivka, then transferred to Colony No. 124 in Donetsk. After Russian control was consolidated, conditions changed somewhat in his view, but Ukrainian prisoners of war he saw during transfers were treated far more harshly: they were given less food and were constantly beaten.
In June 2025, Roman was transferred through Taganrog, Rostov, Voronezh, Samara and Chelyabinsk to the Omsk region. In the Omsk remand prison, he says, he was kept alone in a damp basement cell and forced to stand almost all day. Food, he said, was given only after the words "Glory to Russia," and Ukrainian captives were made to loudly sing the Russian anthem.
After five days in Omsk, he was told he had been included in an exchange. He was flown out via Perm and, apparently, the Moscow region to Gomel, and from there taken to the border. Roman said he was warmly received in Ukraine and helped with documents, medical treatment and rehabilitation. He is now in the Ternopil region, while his wife and daughter remain in Donetsk.