Yesterday at 20:25
When the war began, the Kryvyi Rih native was an officer in the penitentiary service. He didn’t like what he saw on the news, which prompted him to join the army, Mykola says.
MYKOLA HERASYMENKO | FORMER PRISONER OF WAR
“I feared they’d come to my family, to my children and at that point I wouldn’t be able to do anything. So I decided to go there myself and nip this in the bud.”
Mykola ended up in the Kryvbas 40th territorial defence battalion which was deployed in Donetsk region not far from Ilovaysk. His main task at the time was to evacuate injured personnel under enemy shelling.
MYKOLA HERASYMENKO | FORMER PRISONER OF WAR
“I remember the 24th of August when I evacuated the wounded to the field hospital near Rozivka and was returning to Starobesheve. I met two old ladies sitting on a bench by the store. ‘Don’t leave us!’, they said. I replied, ‘Why would you say that? Can’t you see, we keep driving by you back and forth?’ And they said, ‘But you’re the only ones coming back. The rest are just leaving“
Mykola narrowly avoided the infamous Ilovaysk encirclement when separatist forces heavily backed by Russian regular troops turned what President Putin called a “humanitarian corridor” into a massacre – with hundreds of lives lost. All the survivors were sent home as part of a rotation. However, it wasn’t long until Mykola was back at the frontlines, again with the Kryvbas battalion, this time at Debaltseve.
MYKOLA HERASYMENKO | FORMER PRISONER OF WAR
“During our 2nd deployment, I was captured near Debaltseve on February 9th, 2015. As we were moving towards Artemivsk, we were ambushed on the highway. When they put me down on the asphalt, a man with a gun approached me. The moment I spotted orange and black stripe ribbons on him, I knew it was going to be captivity.”
Mykola was captured by the so-called “Don Cossacks”, a militant group from the western regions of Russia. Several dozen Ukrainian servicemen were captured with him.
MYKOLA HERASYMENKO | FORMER PRISONER OF WAR
“We were put in a basement. There were pallets on the floor and that’s it. It used to be a shower – tiles everywhere, no windows. There were many interrogations, some by separatists, some by the Russians. I’d rather not dwell on this. I have scars remaining.”
Following 18 months in the basement, Mykola was taken away by a different militant group.
MYKOLA HERASYMENKO | FORMER PRISONER OF WAR
“We heard them approach our door. Then someone asked ‘Do we finish them off or should we bring them out?’ When the voice ordered to bring us out, it was quite a relief. It was the so-called Military Police of the Donetsk People’s Republic. They lined us up facing the wall and said, Congratulations! You’re out of captivity, only to be back in captivity!”
After many months of psychological and physical pressure, Mykola and a number of other captives were released as part of prisoner exchange. December 27th has become his second birthday, Mykola says.
MYKOLA HERASYMENKO | FORMER PRISONER OF WAR
“As I was being convoyed for prisoner exchange, from behind bars I said this to a guard: ‘The flag that you took from me… I hope we’ll be back soon and we’ll put it up to fly above this colony”
Mykola shows a document issued by the Russian hybrid forces – that was given to him at the colony prior to release.
MYKOLA HERASYMENKO | FORMER PRISONER OF WAR
“They had a decree on my imprisonment, and on the same piece of paper they later added the formal grounds for my release. At the time I made sure they used a different pen. I told them, it’s for when I take them to court.”
