A Ukrainian soldier exposed the brutality of Vladimir Putin’s army. Vladyslav, 33, who serves as a National Guard fighter in Ukraine, revealed how the Russian troops tortured him before leaving him to die in a mass grave, alongside his fellow captives.
According to the Irish Star, the man suffered horrific treatment at the hands of the Russian army, who slashed his throat.
Vladyslav said the prisoners of war were subjected to brutal torture by Putin’s men, including eyes gouged out, ears, genitals being cut, and throats being slit. The Ukrainian soldier recounted how he managed to escape the mass grave where the Russian troops left him to die, with other mutilated bodies of his fellow prisoners.
Vladyslav narrated that when the army left him inside the shallow grave, assuming he was dead, he used a broken bottle to cut through his bindings. He managed to tear a part of his underwear and wrap it around his neck, which was wounded from being slashed.
The survivor of the grotesque horror maintained a diary, where he wrote that the first captives were subjected to unimaginable brutality. Some of their eyes were torn out, while various other body parts, including their genitals, were hacked off by the Russian troops.
According to a report by Suspilne TV, Vladyslav was the last person among the other seven Ukrainian soldiers who were thrown into the mass grave. He managed to crawl out of it about five days back and then made it across to the Ukrainian lines.
Ukrainian soldier Vladyslav crawled 5 days with his throat slit after Russians dumped him in a pit with other POWs.
He cut his ropes with glass, tied his neck with cloth and survived.Now, after surgery, there is hope he can speak again. He dreams of seeing his 4-year-old… pic.twitter.com/qbNx7Q9zZz
— Olena Tregub (@OTregub) August 26, 2025
He is now recovering from his throat injuries after undergoing surgery and tracheostomy. Although doctors are helpful, he will be able to speak again one day; now, Vladyslav is only able to communicate with his wife, Viktoria. Nonetheless, he remains a crucial witness to the war crimes committed by Putin’s army, thanks to his amazing survival strength.
His wife narrated, “First, they [the Russians] caught him, and then they took him to a basement. There were two of them, and they tortured them.”
Vladyslav’s brother Yevhen added, “The first men who were taken prisoner, they were from intelligence. [The Russians] gouged out their eyes, cut off their lips, cut off their male organs, their ears…”.
This Ukrainian soldier went through hell 😔
With his throat cut and thrown into a pit, he crawled for 5 days to Ukrainian positions.
He survived torture by Russian troops and managed to escape from captivity.
What he said was that the first guys who were captured 🧵 pic.twitter.com/s9om5HA9T5
— Sytheruk 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 (@SythUK) August 26, 2025
“He says he was lucky because when they were thrown into the pit, garbage was emptied on top so he wasn’t visible,” said the Ukrainian soldier’s wife.
Dr. Serhiy Ryzhenko, who is the head of the Mechnikov Regional Clinical Hospital in Dnipro, stated, “When your throat is cut and you’re bleeding to death, there’s not much chance of survival.”
Praising Vladyslav’s strength, he added, “He held on until the end, but what sets him apart is that he was confident until the very end that everything would be fine.”
