A mother’s fight to save her son, a prisoner of war, from torture in Russia ends happily

Looking abroad for good news seems futile these days. So when I heard the moving ending of a horrific story in Kiev in June, I wanted to share it.

You could call it the triumph of Mother Courage, a mother’s struggle to save her soldier son from captivity and torture in Russia.

Following the example of Hamas terrorists in Gaza, the Russian government does not provide any information about Ukrainian prisoners to the families, the International Committee of the Red Cross (known as the ICRC), or the government in Kiev. However, as we know from the Ukrainian prisoner exchange, the Russians torture prisoners of war in a manner reminiscent of the Nazis.

When I sat down in a Kiev restaurant with Milana Kompaniiets, a tired, gray-haired doctor who has fought full-time for more than two years for information about her 23-year-old son, Yuri Hulchuk, I thought I knew what to expect. The reality was even worse.

This reality defines the character of Vladimir Putin, a ruthless killer and former KGB spy who cleverly manipulates Donald Trump and MAGA politicians. Putin has no concern for the lives of his own Russian soldiers — let alone adherence to the Geneva Convention rules on the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war, such as Kompaniiets’ son

“My boyfriend is a unique person and a handsome young man,” Kompaniiets told me. He initially studied mathematics, but changed his major to Chinese philology and planned to become a translator. However, in the fall of 2021, Hulchuk decided to join the Marines, because he felt a calling to defend his country, and he signed up shortly before the war broke out in 2022. He ended up at the Illich steel mill in Mariupol, one of the last surviving defenders.

» READ MORE: Ukrainian “Birdie”, released from captivity, recalls the cruelty that Russia inflicted on prisoners of war | Trudy Rubin

When the Mariupol fighters finally surrendered to the Russians in mid-April 2022, the International Committee of the Red Cross promised them they would be treated in accordance with international law. That was the last time the Mariupol survivors saw any Red Cross officials. The Ukrainian families are bitter that the organization did not press harder to overturn Russia’s refusal to grant them access.

The Russians also refused to provide any information, or even permission to enter their country, to UN special rapporteur Alice Jill Edwards, who has investigated torture and other cruel treatment of prisoners of war. Based on interviews with returning prisoners in Ukraine, her report concluded that the Russian government pursued a policy of degrading treatment — including starvation, denial of medical care, beatings, rape and worse.

After her son was captured, Kompaniiets took a leave of absence from work to “work only on her son.” She searched the Internet for information, met with exchanged POWs, addressed the public on the streets holding a banner, spoke to members of parliament, and coordinated with the Ukrainian POW Center.

The Putin government’s most sadistic move was to distribute photos of prisoners, either individually or in groups — without their names — to a depraved Russian military blogger, who posted them online with sarcastic comments underneath.

“I had to look through all the photos. These were the hardest two weeks of my life,” Kompaniiets said. Finally, she found a photo with her son in the background, looking scared and hungry. It was a sign that he might still be alive.

“I spoke to every single Ukrainian prisoner listed,” Kompaniiets continued, digging for every bit of information. Finally, in January, she met a released National Guard soldier who had shared a room with her son.

“We talked every day for hours. I learned things that I, as a mother, shouldn’t have known,” she said, looking down. Her son was beaten relentlessly until he could no longer speak.

“I think it was a stroke from the beating,” she said. “My son spoke English, Chinese, Polish fluently and was very talkative, and after all that, not being able to speak…”

Kompaniiets rested her head on her hands.

“They used electric shocks on his genitals, and his legs were paralyzed. When I found out, all I could do was cry and scream.” She paused for a moment, then continued. “I never understood why Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union the ‘evil empire.’ Now we all understand. In Russia, they are extracting the animal from people. They want to eliminate all of humanity.”

I would add that this does not apply to all Russians. But for the aspiring czar Putin, supported by the military and a largely brainwashed public, decency and the rule of law seem to have no meaning. Moreover, individuals—whether Russian or Ukrainian—are of no value to Putin beyond the extent of their personal power.

But the Kompaniiets never gave up searching. And here came the good news. After Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region of Russia, they captured many Russian conscripts. Last weekend, some of those conscripts were exchanged for survivors from Mariupol.

Yuri Hulchuk finally returned home.

» READ MORE: Russia’s Disorderly Killings in Ukraine Underscore That Putin Understands Only Force | Trudy Rubin

I haven’t been able to contact his mother. But in strong video Taken just after the prisoner exchange, he can be seen walking awkwardly and staring blankly. He can’t speak, but when a female soldier offers him a cell phone with his mother on the other end, he types out, “Mommy’s beautiful as always.”

IN next movieWhen he finally, awkwardly, manages to hug his mother, Kompaniiets hugs him tightly and says, “We love you. We wouldn’t have a life without you.”

Watching this film, I could only think of all the other families of Ukrainian POWs who are desperately waiting for information that the Russian government is refusing to provide. I was also reminded of the desperation of Israeli families who are being denied information about their relatives who are still hostages and who have been abandoned by the Israeli government.

The most infuriating thing is that Putin can avoid punishment for his war crimes. Despite Russia’s violation of the UN’s basic principles, its representative sits on the Security Council. The Russian leader has already been charged in the International Criminal Court with the war crime of kidnapping Ukrainian children. The charges should be added to the ill-treatment and torture of prisoners of war.

And any hypocritical American politician who praises Putin (and condemns Hamas) should be forced to look at the photos of the tortured faces and corpses that Kompaniiets was forced to examine just to find out if her son was alive.