Ukrainian Journalist:Beaten And Held In Russia For Three Years

Since his release from a Russian prison, Dmytro Khyliuk has barely been off the phone.

The Ukrainian journalist was detained by Russian forces in the first days of their full-scale invasion. Three and a half years later he’s been released in a prisoner swap, one of eight civilians freed in a surprise move.

While Russia and Ukraine have swapped military prisoners of war before, it is very rare for Russia to release Ukrainian civilians.

Dmytro has been catching up frantically on all he’s missed. But he’s also phoning the families of every Ukrainian he met in captivity: he memorised all their names and each detail.

He knows that for some, his call may be the first confirmation that their relative is alive.

There were celebrations here last month when Dmytro was returned from Russia in a group of 146 Ukrainians.

A crowd came out waving blue and yellow national flags, cheering as the buses carrying the freed men passed hooting their horns.

Most on board were soldiers with sunken cheeks, emaciated after their years behind bars.

Officials won’t say exactly how they got the eight Ukrainian civilians back in the same exchange, only that it involved sending back in return “people Russia was interested in”.

One source said those included residents of the Kursk region in Russia, evacuated when Ukrainian forces launched their 2024 incursion. The group’s exact status after that is unclear.

Stepping off the bus to a cheering crowd, Dmytro’s first phone call was to tell his mother he was free. Both his parents are elderly and unwell and his greatest fear had been never seeing them again.

“The hardest was not knowing when you’ll be allowed back. You could be freed the next day or stay prisoner for 10 years. Nobody knows how long it’s for.”

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