His photos shocked the whole world when they were released. Mikhailo Dianov is one of the Ukrainian fighters from the Azovstal factory who were captured by the Russians and then finally released a few weeks ago during a prisoner exchange. In the images, we can see the physical transformation of the soldier, whose captivity was very trying.
Today, Mikhailo Dianov confided in the British media Sky News. “We thought about death every day”begins from the outset the one who is part of the “heroes of Azovstal”, this metallurgical plant in Mariupol which has become the center of Ukrainian resistance and which fell into the hands of the Russians in mid-May.
The emaciated man – he lost 40 kilos! – returns especially on the weeks which followed and these four months of captivity in the prison of Olenivka in Donetsk, under Russian control. “The bread we got was deliberately very hard. The boys whose teeth had been knocked out couldn’t eat their food in time. After 30 seconds you had to stop. Then you immediately had to get up and run . That’s how it was all the time”explains the soldier to Sky News and whose colleagues from the The last news repeat the words. “They treated us like animals”he adds.
Mikhailo Dianov affirms that the Russians did not hesitate to resort to torture in this prison which he equates to a concentration camp. “We were beaten with sticks, given electric shocks and the guards stuck needles under our nails”he explains.
A traumatic release
After four months, around mid-September, Mikhailo Dianov was finally able to be one of the 205 prisoners exchanged. He recounts this equally traumatic moment. “We were completely stripped. The Russians searched us. And then we had to squat for five hours. We just waited. We didn’t know what was going to happen to us”says the Ukrainian. “They put duct tape around my head and dug their legs into my stomach so they could tighten the tape, and that’s how I spent a day, a day and a half.”
Finally, after 36 hours of travel with his eyes covered, by bus and plane, Mikhailo Dianov was back in Ukraine. “Everyone is traumatized” confides the fighter again. “I consider myself a mentally strong person, but for me a lot of things have lost their value.”
Now, Mikhailo Dianov is trying to regain weight before leaving for the United States, where he will have to have arm surgery.