"Inhuman torture": soldier held captive for three years dies less than a month after prisoner swap
A Ukrainian soldier has died less than a month after returning from Russian captivity. Valerii Zelenskyi, 57, had been held captive in Russia for over three years and returned home as part of a thousand-for-thousand prisoner exchange in May.
Source: Suspilne Donbas
Details: Valerii Zelenskyi was born in Ukraine but had lived in Russia for some time, particularly during his school years. Valerii's daughter said he was a natural leader and had been involved in world-class sport.
He studied inorganic chemistry in Sievierodonetsk, where he met the woman who would later become his wife. Valerii later got a job in the police force, which had been his dream since he was a boy.
After leaving law enforcement, he tried his hand at entrepreneurship but eventually joined the army. While serving in the 53rd Separate Mechanised Brigade, Valerii was promoted to senior sergeant and earned the respect of his brothers-in-arms.
At one time Valerii was featured in posters advertising his brigade that were displayed all over Sievierodonetsk. Valeriia says they were looking for charismatic faces to promote the brigade at the time, and her father was one of them.
"We were so proud of him. Our whole family took a photo with these posters because he looked so handsome, very restrained and manly," Valeriia reminisced.
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She said that after the full-scale invasion began, her father's unit helped the defenders of Mariupol, particularly by bringing them weapons.
"When the offensive began, they were told that volunteer soldiers were needed to go on the assault," Valeriia said. "Forty-eight of them said, ‘We'll go.’ My father was one of them. He was a sapper and had to lay mines at the bridge. They told him, ‘Don't worry; the National Police are there and they’re waiting for you; everything will be fine.’
He went there. And there were indeed people waiting for them. And everything did seem fine; everyone was speaking Russian. But it turned out that they weren’t their own people."
In Ukraine’s east, Valerii was captured by Russian forces and spent the next 39 months in captivity. It was several days before Valerii's family found out that he had been taken prisoner. At the time, his family were hiding from attacks in basements and did not always have access to mobile communications.
Valerii’s daughter described the news of her father's captivity as a heavy blow for them. Eventually, Valerii's family managed to get out of Sievierodonetsk.
"It was a very stressful time, when you have to tear yourself away from your grief and start building a new life. To start looking for somewhere to live, somehow recover, buy things – but you don't want to do anything," she admits.
During Valerii's captivity, his family received one letter in which he said he was holding on and asked them to kiss all his relatives on his behalf.
Valeriia said her father had been on the list to be exchanged for a long time, yet he did not return home.
"Several times they exchanged other Zelenskyis [...] For them, the surname Zelenskyi is like an opportunity, like a voodoo doll. Guys would come back and say there was torture going on there, that my father was tortured every day," Valeriia shared.
Valeriia says her father's first year in Russian captivity was the most difficult because he was with so-called "Donetsk People’s Republic" fighters and Wagner Group fighters.
"This mixture and the torture were not just cruel but inhuman. But he endured. He held on for another two years. And he told me, ‘Daughter, I endured because of my Kyokushin [a style of karate – ed.]. I have discipline and I am tough. My muscles protected me," Valeriia recollects.
On 25 May 2025, Valerii's family were informed that Valerii had been brought home.
"First a text message came through the coordination centre. Then they notified us through the Diia app. I even took screenshots because I couldn't believe it. It said: ’Wait for a phone call.’"
Valeriia recalls the events of that day: "We were so nervous. We were all crying with happiness because the worst nightmare of our lives was finally over. We wanted to tell him not to worry, because we knew he was very concerned about us."
She says that during their first phone call, Valerii was very happy to hear Ukrainian being spoken and said he wanted to learn the language.
"The first thing he said was: ‘I didn't betray anyone.’ For him, those are words of honour. That was above everything else. He didn't give anyone away. He didn’t stitch anyone up. He didn't reveal anything. He was ready to endure absolutely anything, but he wouldn't stitch anyone up," Valeriia says.
When he returned home, Valerii was overjoyed to learn that as well as the two granddaughters he had dreamed of raising, he now had a grandson. When doctors asked whether he ever had suicidal thoughts, he answered that he had something to live for because, he said, "My children are waiting for me; the world is waiting for me." He added that he had "a whole life to live".
"He came back without any muscles because too much time had passed," Valeriia recounted. "You have to understand that the guys there are literally on the verge of life and death.
He said, ‘Three of us died from torture. And when I was in very bad shape and realised that anything could happen, I asked God: 'Please let me see the eyes of my beloved.’"
Valeriia noted that Valerii's medical report on his prison experiences listed almost every possible form of torture. He returned from Russian captivity with several injuries, including a non-functioning shoulder and arm.
After returning to Ukraine, Valerii received medical treatment, but his condition deteriorated rapidly. Eventually he ended up in intensive care.
Read also: Ukraine secures release of soldier who spent 506 days in Russian captivity for "terrorism"
Doctors suspected that Valerii had problems with his pancreas and focused on treating them. Eventually he underwent surgery, which revealed that all his internal organs were falling apart. Valerii died on 16 June, less than a month after his return from captivity.
"The necrosis wasn’t just in his pancreas," Valeriia says. "It's something you can't see with your eyes, something that tests won't show. He was holding on purely by sheer force of will.
Your first feeling is the ever-present pain that your loved one isn’t here any more. They simply tortured him to death. But there is joy in the fact that he no longer feels that torture."
Background: Former Mariupol defender Mykhailo Dianov married his beloved Myroslava.
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