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His makes an attempt to flee the Russian encirclement had failed. He and his fellow Ukrainian marines have been surrounded dozens of miles from pleasant strains. They’d virtually run out of meals and water. Some panicked, others silently agreed to what would occur subsequent.
Then, a few day later, Serhiy Hrebinyak, a senior sailor, and his comrades emerged from their final hideout inside the enormous Ilyich Iron and Metal Works within the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Mariupol. She instantly messaged her elder sister: “Hello Anna. Our brigade surrendered in captivity at this time. Me too. I don't know what is going to occur subsequent. I like you all.”
That day was April 12, 2022.
Practically two years later, on the second anniversary of the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Serhiy, now 24, stays in captivity as a prisoner of warfare someplace in Russia. His household sits in a torture chamber, trapped between that day in April and the current day.
The preliminary panic was rapidly calmed by calls and visits to the Pink Cross, the Ukrainian Military, and native authorities; It took months for official proof of life to reach. The warfare continued, and now, like 1000’s of different Ukrainian households with kin in captivity, the Hrebinics wait.
“After all, life has modified. “Nearly daily is filled with tears,” Serhiy's mom, Svitlana Hrebiniak, mentioned from her front room this month.
Ready is as a lot Hrebinics's warfare as might be heard from his dwelling in Trostianets, a city in northeastern Ukraine. Their easy one-story home just isn’t removed from the Russian border, the place they will generally hear the sound of drones or the echo of distant explosions.
They spend the day as finest they will till Serhi comes dwelling. Svitlana typically attends church along with her two daughters, Anna and Katerina. They pray for his return and good well being. Anna and Katerina get up daily and scour messages on Russian channels on Telegram, hoping to see him within the background of some blurry photograph or video. His father, Ihor, checks Fb teams the place volunteers share updates on Ukrainian prisoners of warfare.
“Typically I believe possibly this has occurred to different individuals too,” mentioned Svitlana, 48. After which I ask: 'Why Serhi? Why did he need to be caught? The Ukrainian authorities mentioned that as of November 3,574 Ukrainian army personnel have been in captivity.
April 12, 2022, was an attractive day on the outskirts of Trostyanets, 260 miles northwest of Mariupol. The solar had risen. Winter finally retreated after the Kremlin's failed makes an attempt to seize the capital, Kiev, as did town's Russian occupiers. Solely two weeks earlier, Ukrainian troops had liberated Trostyanets after a short however intense battle that broken the hospital and destroyed the railway station, the place Svitlana has labored for 26 years.
However within the south, Russian forces have been enduring a brutal siege of Mariupol.
“There was a sense that the warfare would quickly finish. After which the message got here. I learn it, and I used to be surprised,” Anna mentioned this month, sitting subsequent to her mom. “All of us began crying.”
The Russian Protection Ministry introduced the subsequent day, 13 April, that greater than 1,000 marines from the thirty sixth Brigade had been taken prisoner in Mariupol. A couple of month later, the Russian siege of town ended when the final Ukrainian defenders lastly surrendered.
Anna, 27, despatched a message, however her youthful brother had taken off together with his belongings as a fighter. His time period as a prisoner of warfare had begun.
“Serhi, we love you,” she despatched. “The whole lot can be positive.”
Practically two years after Serhiy's seize, Hrebinics has skilled himself to tolerate his absence by making a routine, however these early weeks actually weren't as a result of they have been on the lookout for him.
The day after Serhiy's give up, Russian information clips confirmed captured Ukrainian marines from his brigade, their uniforms soiled and raveled. The household scanned the footage body by body till they discovered {a partially} obscured face, arms raised and half-folded, familial indicators. It was Serhi, they thought.
“That is it,” Anna remembered saying. They handed over the screenshots of the video and his passport to the Nationwide Coordination Heart as proof. Three months later, the Ukrainian authorities referred to as Hrebinich to say that the Russians had confirmed that Serhiy was in captivity.
Serhiy's path to the military was surprising. He was a mean pupil in class. He performed soccer, wrestled and went fishing – typically with grand designs of a mighty catch, solely to return with sufficient for the household cat. Considered one of his former academics, Olha Vlezko, 51, mentioned Serhiy largely stayed out of bother. He spoke warmly of him.
Serhi smiled extensively. In his early teenagers, his face was boyish and spherical, with welcome dimples and grey hair. And so they have not often talked to their siblings concerning the former warfare that started in 2014, not to mention preventing in it.
He was conscripted in 2019 for the one-year obligatory service that the majority Ukrainian males are required to carry out. Then, with out telling his household, he signed a contract with the military six months later. Her hair grew shorter, her cheeks turned sharper and extra outstanding. However in a army image, Serhiy nonetheless appeared like a child in his uniform as he held a Kalashnikov rifle that appeared somewhat older.
“I used to be undoubtedly unhappy,” sighs his 51-year-old father Ihor, remembering when Serhiy signed the contract. “He was younger then. Why did he go to serve?”
As of February 23, 2022, the day earlier than Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Serhiy was a tank mechanic within the thirty sixth Marine Brigade and aspired to climb the ranks. He had hung out on the entrance on the outskirts of Mariupol as Ukrainian troopers have been preventing Russian-backed separatists there and was accustomed to the sounds of warfare. Serhiy, then 22, immediately appears to be like a lot older on the eve of a significant warfare.
Anna mentioned, “Once we referred to as him on February 23, there was no emotion on his face.” “We tried to cheer him up, however he confirmed no emotion. He already knew that there could be a warfare.”
What occurred after Serhiy was captured on April 12, 2022, stays unclear, however Hrebinics was capable of piece collectively a tough timeline from social media posts and from speaking to Ukrainian troopers launched within the prisoner swap. Have been profitable. These transfers are free Greater than 3,000 Ukrainians up to nowHowever only a few have occurred and have been placed on maintain for many of 2023. Nonetheless, two exchanges this yr have given the household hope that Serhiy might be freed quickly.
One freed captive, a Ukrainian marine, who spoke on situation of anonymity to guard these nonetheless held in captivity, mentioned he was captured together with Serhiy. The marine was injured within the legs by rifle and mortar fireplace whereas making an attempt to interrupt the siege.
He was Serhiy's good friend, he mentioned, and within the closing days of the preventing, the 22-year-old from Trostianets shared what little rations he might together with his wounded good friend.
“He introduced crackers, cookies and canned meals and requested how I used to be feeling,” the Marine mentioned. “He helped me.” After surrendering, each have been taken to Olenivka jail in Russian-occupied Ukraine, the place they have been put into an open barracks room with about 90 different prisoners. They slept on no matter they discovered. They talked about cigarettes, dwelling and meals.
And he waited.
Serhiy was taken in for questioning and returned, however was transferred to a different jail. The masked males took him out of the cell. “He mentioned goodbye to me and that was it,” the Marine mentioned.
One other Ukrainian detainee advised Hrebinics one other story. She met Serhiy in one other jail, in Kamyshin, a metropolis on the Volga River in western Russia. There, the story goes that a lot of the detainees contracted tuberculosis, which is widespread in Russian prisons, however Serhiy escaped the illness. As an alternative, his issues arose from the beatings he acquired from his captors.
The data was useful, however essentially the most concrete replace got here on February 26, 2023. It was a video posted on Telegram by a Russian volunteer who visits Ukrainian prisoners. On this, Serhi, carrying a black collared shirt, is trying in direction of the digital camera together with his arms on each his legs. His head is shaved and he appears to be like anxious, as if he’s anxious about forgetting the script he’s about to relate.
“Hey mother, dad, sister, sister. my positive. I’m in Russian captivity. They don't beat me, they deal with us usually. I’ve nothing towards the Russian Federation. We’re fed thrice a day. I’ve sufficient. Good elements. I hope to return dwelling quickly. And every little thing can be positive with us,” he says earlier than the video ends.
This was the final time Hrebinix noticed him, and time has moved on since his seize. Anna had a baby and bought married. His grandfather died. Svitlana generally returns from working on the railway station at night time, and Simba, a grey cat, has joined the household.
“We haven't seen him in a really very long time, so this video helps us somewhat bit,” mentioned Anna, who generally watches it earlier than going to mattress. “Daily we wait, and generally we think about what it can seem like when he walks by way of that door.”
Daria Mittyuk And Natalia Yermak Contributed to the reporting.