😔 They tore the skin from his back while he was alive, beat prisoners to death, and locked them naked in a padded torture cell: the story of border guard Yevhenii Sholudko, who survived Russian captivity.
Yevhenii is 28 years old and comes from the Sumy region of Ukraine.
In July 2023, he joined the military and became a border guard.
Less than six months later, on December 9, 2023, he was captured by Russian forces. It happened near the border when Yevhenii and six other soldiers were moving to their position.
The day before, they had been warned that a sabotage and reconnaissance group had entered the area. A firefight broke out, and then a voice came from the forest: “Drop your weapons and surrender.”
On May 25, 2024, Yevhenii was transferred to a penal colony in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Rostov Region.
There, they were greeted with what the guards called a “reception” — a brutal beating during which the skin on prisoners’ backs was ripped off with a metal rod fitted with metal balls.
Yevhenii had a habit of helping others. He would run naked to unconscious fellow prisoners and help them get back on their feet. For this, a guard named Nikita kicked him so hard twice that he could barely stand.
The same guard, Nikita, beat another prisoner to death by destroying his internal organs.
Prisoners were marched to the dining hall while being forced to sing Russian songs, and they were beaten as they marched — sometimes to death.
On September 12, 2024, Yevhenii was transferred to a detention center in the town of Kizel, Perm Krai, in the Ural region.
There, a camera monitored prisoners constantly, a loudspeaker blared orders, and talking was strictly forbidden.
During ten months in Kizel, Yevhenii lost 29 kilograms (64 pounds). Hunger was constant.
Because speaking was prohibited, prisoners developed mental routines to stay sane. Yevhenii would count the houses and people in his parents’ village over and over in his mind.
In Kizel, prison authorities created a special punishment room known as the “rubber room” — a padded cell without windows, a sink, or a toilet.
Prisoners were sent there naked for the smallest infractions, such as refusing to sing the Russian national anthem.
Psychologically, the hardest part was the complete lack of news from home. Letters from his wife never reached him.
One day, a cellmate received a letter containing drawings from his young daughters. The picture showed their father, mother, and children standing together. Yevhenii looked at those drawings fifteen times a day and cried.
Before a prisoner exchange, the Russians began to “prepare” Yevhenii — feeding him porridge floating in oil so he would gain weight and stopping the beatings to ensure there would be no bruises or visible wounds.
On July 23, 2025, Yevhenii was released as part of a prisoner exchange.
When he stepped off the plane in Gomel, he realized it was finally over. On the bus, there were bags filled with food — waffles, sweets, and Coca-Cola.
One of his friends, overwhelmed by hunger, ate two cans of stewed meat and ended up being transported by ambulance from Chernihiv to Kyiv.
In Chernihiv, Yevhenii was met by his mother, father, sister, and wife. He was so emaciated that his relatives recognized him only by the shape of his eyebrows.
For months after returning home, he still could not feel full. The constant hunger ingrained by captivity would not let go.
He and the other former prisoners in the hospital ward would stay awake at night eating. Only after several weeks did he experience the feeling of being truly full for the first time.