Wlad, Oleg and Jarosław – these are Ukrainian soldiers of whom all trace has been lost. A year ago, we told their stories in “Fakty” TVN. Today, life adds a tragic epilogue to these stories with a common denominator – the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War is just a piece of paper for Russians.
We met Lieutenant Wlad on the front in Donbas just before the Russian invasion. He argued that if the Ukrainians were attacked, they would prepare a second Chechnya for the Russians. – I don't want the extermination of Ukrainians – the Great Famine – to repeat itself. I don't want that. I am ready to die and kill for it, said Lieutenant Wladyslaw Bulij in February 2022.
Ukraine became hell for Russians, but the young officer also predicted his future. He went missing in the first weeks of fighting. Over 900 days – that's how long his parents waited for information about his fate. This summer, Ukrainians found the DNA of a young officer while examining the corpses of soldiers provided by Russians as part of an exchange.
SEE MORE: “Where are they?” Report on TVN24 GO
“The ruthless enemy fired at them with cluster missiles. Everything was on fire. Even metal was on fire. The soldier Wladyslaw found himself in this hell. He defended his homeland and all of us” – this is how Old Sambor said goodbye to his hero.
They don't know what happened to their loved ones, but they don't lose hope. “Children keep saying: Dad, we're waiting”Report from October 2023.Paweł Szot/Fakty TVN
The Russians treat prisoners of war like criminals
We showed the stories of the wanted soldiers in the report “Where are they?” Now life gives them tragic endings. Iryna's husband was taken prisoner at the beginning of the war. After many months, he was supposed to be replaced, but almost a year ago we lost contact with him.
– He was on board the Il-76 plane that was shot down by a Ukrainian missile. This is what the Russian side claims. Our side is silent, says Iryna Soboleva, wife of the missing Ukrainian soldier.
Lesya Masai fought for months to release her seriously injured son from captivity. Unsuccessfully. – They tried him in Luhansk, in the LNR, and took him to Russia. From what we know, Article 205: terrorism – the woman says.
He is to spend eight years in Siberia. There is no contact with him. The Russians did not grant him the status of a prisoner of war and do not respect international conventions.
Cichocki: Putin wants to turn back the clock 40 years agoTVN24
– By attacking Ukraine, Russia's political leaders violated the Charter of the United Nations, violated international law, and breaking documents such as the Geneva Convention or the Hague Conventions is simply a consequence – comments Prof. Tomasz Kubin from the Institute of Political Sciences of the University of Silesia in Katowice.
For the families, it has been a nightmare that has been going on for almost three years. – How long can a person endure without knowing anything? Every day you wake up and go to bed with only one thought. Every day you are looking for a piece of information – admits Iryna Sobolewa.
The fate of tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers remains unknown.
Main photo source: TVN24