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Recruited by force in a Russian prison, the young militiaman, without military experience, was taken prisoner in Bakhmout. It tells of misery, threats and dread.
By Boris Mabillard, Special Envoy to Ukraine
© Boris Mabillard for “Le Point”
Published on
Lhe outer wall of the former factory protects a heavy secret. Out of sight, a battalion of the Ukrainian army guards a fighter from the Wagner group captured on the front line. The large gray portal opens onto disused and partly gutted buildings. Carcasses of military vehicles painted with Z, the symbol of the Russian invasion forces in Ukraine, lie in the rain.
Two men stand with their feet in the mud. One is the jailer, the other the prisoner. The first, Serhiy, 54, looks like any resting soldier, the second, Sacha, 26, looks like a mechanic in military uniform.
Their real names cannot be disclosed nor the exact locations disclosed. We are back from the front line, several dozen…
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