Ukrainian fighters who surrendered after weeks besieged deep under the Azovstal steelworks were kept in inhumane conditions by Russia, a released fighter has told the BBC.
Lt Illia Samoilenko told the BBC that he had been held in Russia in solitary confinement for 120 days and feared he would never return to Ukraine.
He said Russian forces confiscated his prosthetic arm after his capture.
The Azov Regiment fighter was released in a prisoner swap last month.
Lt Samoilenko, who is 28, lost his right eye and left arm after ammunition exploded in his hand while he was on a military mission in eastern Ukraine before the Azovstal siege.
The first thing he bought when he returned to Ukraine was a pack of cigarettes, “to feel alive,” he said.
“I’m happy to see the people who’ve been waiting for me, and the tears of joy in their faces and their smiles”.
In the first international media interview by an Azov fighter since some were released in a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine last…
This article was written by and originally published on www.bbc.co.uk