Ukrainian Witness | War in Ukraine | ️ 👀  Returned from captivity with a captive: the remarkable story of a...

💭🤯 ⬛️ 👀  Returned from captivity with a captive: the remarkable story of a Ukrainian soldier who spent two weeks in a dugout with a Russian* 👇  Click the bottom-right arrow to see the full text 🇺🇦  34-year-old Ukrainian serviceman from Odesa, Vadym Lietunov, ended up in an enemy dugout after his position was destroyed and he was wounded — and spent two weeks there with a Russian soldier➡️  At the end of February, his shelter was hit. His brother-in-arm was killed. Dazed by the blast, Lietunov managed to get out and instinctively ran toward Ukrainian linesIn the forest, he came across a dugout and went inside💬  I saw a man aiming a rifle at me. I said which brigade I was from, that we’d been bombed. He told me: 'Come in'. I stepped inside — and heard the accent. He was Russian, Lietunov recalls. I said: 'You’re not one of ours, right? Please don’t kill me.'👮  Inside was a Russian soldier named Nikita — unstable, a former convict and drug addict who had ended up at the front in exchange for freedom. He had already tried to leave his position but had been sent back➡️  The Russian ordered him to undress and searched his belongings, looking for drugs — influenced by propaganda claiming Ukrainian soldiers carry them😈  Once a day, a Mavic drone dropped minimal supplies into the dugout: porridge, jam, and a little water. The Russian shared what he had — a piece of chocolate and a sip of water from a bottle capAccording to Lietunov, Nikita had severe mood swings💬  He could suddenly become aggressive, press a pistol to my forehead and say, ‘I’ll kill you now’… and then change his mind a second later, he saysOver time, Lietunov’s condition worsened — gangrene set in, and a toe turned blackHe asked Nikita to shoot him outside the dugout so his body could be found and returned to his family💬  He got angry and refused. He was afraid to go outside — he knew it was dangerous, Lietunov saysNikita himself began complaining about the conditions — collecting rainwater and sometimes even 'drinking his own urine.'❗️  One morning he said, ‘Maybe I should surrender to you?’ I said, ‘Don’t.’ But I added that conditions in Ukraine are decent — three meals a day, cigarettes, the Geneva Convention, Lietunov recallsWhen they finally ran out of water, they went out to search for some. A Ukrainian drone spotted them💬  I pointed to my clothes. I was wearing my pixel-pattern army UBACS shirt — that’s basically how they recognized me, he says❗️  At first, drone operators thought they were Russians and even launched a kamikaze drone. By sheer luck, the strike failed. A second attack was aborted after a commander recognized his soldier➡️  They stayed in the dugout until a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier approached. Eventually, the Russian chose to surrender and destroyed his phoneHe was given coffee with condensed milk and sugar, then handed over to Ukrainian special services❗️  Lietunov’s unit, the 118th Brigade, had presumed him dead and informed his family his chances of return were minimal. He lost a toe due to gangrene and is now undergoing rehabilitation in Odesa🫡 It’s a one-in-a-million chance, he says of his story. I was a captive. But in the end, I came out with a captive