Ukraine war: How wives of imprisoned Azovstal fighters are honouring them

Published

1 year ago

May 16, 2024

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On the day of their marriage, Mariia Alieksieievych’s husband, Serhii, was holding out at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, the last bastion of resistance in the besieged southern port city of Ukraine as it came under one of the harshest sieges since the Second World War.

Mariia, 26, was almost 1,000km away in Khmelnytsky, where the couple had been living together before Russia‘s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The world looked on to see whether the Azovstal defenders would manage to hold back Russian forces as they ran out of food, water and ammunition.

Serhii, 29, fought on despite having a bullet stuck in a leg bone since mid-April, which couldn’t be removed due to the lack of supplies.

Ukraine war latest: Ukrainian troops move into new positions

He made no mention of his agony when he spoke to Mariia. Instead, he asked her to marry him.

“On 27 April, 2022, when Serhii was at Azovstal, we got married.

“Serhii recorded a video for the registry office, in which he said he wanted to marry me, provided his and my personal data, I showed them the video, provided the necessary documents, and we got married,” Mariia told Sky News.

“I remember that day quite often, because at least on that day I was able to cheer Serhii up, give him hope for the best, that he would get out of Mariupol alive and that everything would be fine with us.”

The ‘terror’ attack

Mariia’s husband suffered a wound to his other leg in the Olenivka attack on 28-29 July 2022, which killed at least 50 Ukrainian prisoners and injured 100 more, according to the Russian Defence Ministry, the only source on the casualty figures.

Many of the prisoners at the targeted detention centre belonged to the nationalist Azov regiment as defenders of the steelworks were transferred there following their surrender on 16 May.

Speaking on the day marking two years since their husbands’ surrender, the wives of some Mariupol soldiers who are still prisoners of war (PoW) and whose whereabouts are unknown have spoken to Sky News about the limbo they’re in.

Kseniia Prokopenko’s brother, Ihor, is yet to be buried after being killed in the Olenivka attack – for which Russia and Ukraine have traded blame – at the age of 21.

His body was returned in October 2022, but he had been burned so badly that Ihor couldn’t be recognised.

While the family got a DNA match in May last year, they are still waiting for the results of an independent DNA test before saying their final goodbyes.

“Ihor was not married, he had no children,” said Kseniia. “We still cannot believe that this has happened and we will never see our Ihor again.”

‘Not enough done’

She said she didn’t even know her brother had been transferred to Olenivka when the lists of casualties were released. Ihor’s name was second on the list of those killed.

Kseniia has been campaigning with relatives of PoWs for Ukrainian authorities and the international community to ramp up efforts to protect soldiers in captivity and prevent another Olenivka.

“I realise now that enough wasn’t done two years ago when this terrorist attack happened, to raise this topic so the international community understands that Russia is a terrorist state and it kills and tortures prisoners of war, enough wasn’t done from our authorities,” she said.

As a member of the Olenivka community, she has travelled to Switzerland twice, to meet representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations (UN) and speak at the Swiss parliament.

Ana Lobov’s daughter was one-month-old when her husband, 32 and another Azovstal defender, left for the frontline.

She recalled how on 31 July, just a few days after the Olenivka attack, her husband’s name, Oleh, appeared on both lists of those killed and those injured. “I didn’t really know what to make of it,” Ana, 29, now based in Zhytomyr, said.

The last time Ana spoke to her husband was on 16 May, the day of the surrender, when he sent her a personal text but didn’t give any information or promise he would return.

‘You could see how tired he felt’

But on 17 August that year, she spotted Oleh in a Telegram video from a hospital in Donetsk.

“That’s how I found out he was alive,” she said. “That was the only time since the start of the full-scale war that I saw him.”

In the video, Oleh said he had shrapnel wounds all over his body and a wound to his hand, Ana said.

“You could see that he’s lost weight and if you looked into his eyes, you could see how tired he felt.”

Through a released prisoner who she spoke to in December that year, Ana was able to obtain some information about her husband, including that he had spent six months in hospital and had been put in isolation after catching a supposed cold.

Speaking of how her daughter would play with a family picture attached to a fridge magnet, Ana said she has now started avoiding talking about her father to her now-toddler girl, Mariia.

But she would probably still “recognise her daddy” if she found any pictures “in the wardrobe or somewhere where I keep them”.

Ana says that ensuring her daughter grows up with her dad “encourages me to continue fighting for the release of my husband and his friends and those people who turned out to being in captivity”.

She went on: “I believed that international organisations were going to visit the victims of the terrorist attack, get reliable lists, that the seriously wounded would be taken from hospitals to a third country, but this did not happen either in a month or almost a year later.”

After the UN fact-finding mission, which had been set up to investigate Olenivka, was disbanded in January 2023, citing the “absence of conditions required for the deployment of the Mission to the site”, Ana took matters into her own hands and created the Olenivka community group.

‘There is still threat to their life’

The group gathers every Sunday to call for an investigation into what happened in Olenivka as members fear it may happen again.

The PoW’s wives are now looking into how they may personally appeal to officials from countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to get their other halves released through negotiations.

The UAE has been mediating in prisoner exchange negotiations, including when more than 200 prisoners on each side were freed in early January, in what Ukraine described as the largest documented swap of troops until then.

According to an Azov brigade commander quoted by local media in February, more than 900 Azov fighters are still in captivity.

“Our biggest fear is that history can repeat itself, that this kind of event can happen once again,” Mariia said, while claiming that despite “constant” efforts to get information from state authorities or the ICRC about her husband, they were never able to help.

“It’s been two years and we still don’t know the Russians logic, why, what made them move these people to this separate barrack and why it happened, why they wanted to kill them,” she said.

“There is still threat to their life and health.”

Anastasiia Gondul, 47, hasn’t had any news of her husband Artem, 41, since she saw him on Russian TV in the August after the Olenivka attack, in which he was reportedly injured.

She knows he had already been severely injured while at the Azovstal plant, with part of a mine believed to still be stuck in his pelvis.

She has now made it her priority to raise awareness of PoWs who, two years on, are still in foreign hands under practically unknown circumstances.

Anastasiia, who at one point started taking antidepressants to tackle the anxiety of her husband being on the frontline, has travelled to Geneva to address the UN and Red Cross, as well as Poland to speak at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, organised by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

She also travelled to Canada, where she visited her daughter and organised a peaceful protest in Montreal and Ottawa.

Anastasiia, Maria and Ana also met the papal ambassador to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, for support.

At the request of the Olenivka group, peaceful protests were held in Winterthur, Milan, London, Wales, Birmingham, Warsaw, Munich, Augsbur, Quebec, Sacramento, Paris, Prague, Madrid, La Coruña and Stockholm.

The women of the Olenivka group hold a peaceful protest every Sunday in cities across Ukraine to ensure the plight of PoWs remains in the public’s conscience.

The Ukrainian and Russian governments have been approached for comment.

ICRC access to PoWs

An ICRC spokesperson told Sky News it has visited more than 3,000 PoWs on both sides, assessing their condition and treatment.

The ICRC has 26,900 open cases of missing people, both civilians and military. More than 8,700 families have received news from the organisation on their loved ones’ fate or whereabouts.

During visits, “much-awaited news” from families are shared with detainees, while any concerns about their condition will be raised privately with authorities, a statement says.

But the ICRC still doesn’t have “the full access to all PoWs”, with many prisoners and civilian internees still waiting for a visit.

“We continue our efforts to access all of them. We also know that every day is full of uncertainty for their families who are looking for reassurance,” the spokesperson said.

‘Families have the right to know’

The ICRC pointed to how under the Geneva Conventions, it must be allowed to visit all PoWs as many times as needed, but added that it cannot enforce the rules.

“We understand the frustrations of those families who wait in anguish with no news at all. Families have the right to know about the fate of their loved ones, whether they are alive, wounded, or dead.

“Many have waited anxiously for too long – they need answers today. We will not rest until we are able to see all PoWs, not just once, but repeatedly wherever they are held.”

World

‘Kill zone’ around crucial Ukrainian city as Russian forces try to squeeze defenders out

Published

42 mins ago

September 18, 2025

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'Kill zone' around crucial Ukrainian city as Russian forces try to squeeze defenders out

Ukraine’s defence of the crucial city of Pokrovsk, which has held out for more than a year despite fierce Russian assaults, could be coming to an end as invading forces squeeze the resistance out.

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s troops are facing attacks along the frontline, with Moscow reportedly using a pipeline to move personnel in the northeast near Kupyansk as it seeks to create even more pressure on Kyiv’s stretched resources.

It comes after Volodymyr Zelenskyy used an exclusive interview with Sky News to call on Donald Trump to take a “clear position” on a sanctions package for Russia and security guarantees for Ukraine.

Sky News has a look at what has been happening at some key parts of the frontline.

‘Kill zone’ as around Pokrovsk

Ukrainian forces have been engaged in a bitter struggle to hold the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk for more than a year, with Russian troops at times attempting to encircle the defenders there.

The situation there is worsening, says Dr Marina Miron, an expert at the defence studies department at King’s College London.

She cited reports that Russian forces are controlling all supply routes and have “created a kill zone” using drones, making it very difficult for Ukraine to resupply its troops there.

A road and rail node, Pokrovsk had a pre-war population of around 60,000 people. It’s viewed by Russia as “the gateway to Donetsk”.

Capturing it would severely hamper Ukrainian supply lines and endanger crucial cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

“It will take time because what the Russians are trying to do essentially is to squeeze the Ukrainians out,” Dr Miron told Sky News.

“They don’t want to storm the city as it’s too difficult and too manpower intensive – assuming a lot of losses.” Instead, they are trying to surround it completely, she added.

This reflects a “changed approach”, Dr Miron says, with the Russian military appearing to favour slower encirclement operations rather than the high-casualty assault waves with which places like Bakhmut were captured.

Battles in the northeast

Meanwhile, Russian forces have advanced near Kupyansk in northeast Ukraine, not far from the fortress city of Kharkiv, the Institute for the Study of War thinktank reported on Monday.

Like other targets along the Ukrainian frontline, Kupyansk is a key transport and logistics hub, being the location at which several major rail lines converge.

“It seems like they are pretty close,” Dr Miron said, discussing the positions of Russian forces around Kupyansk.

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s military said Russia had moved personnel to the area via a pipeline, but said the exit from the pipe is under control of Ukrainian defenders.

“A counter-sabotage operation is underway in the city, and search and strike operations are underway around the city,” the Kyiv’s General Staff said on Telegram on Saturday.

Kupyansk, which was recaptured by Ukrainian troops in their counteroffensive in autumn 2022, has been largely destroyed in the course of the war and continues to face attacks.

Dr Miron said it’s likely that the push towards Kupyansk is part of an effort by Moscow to retake some of those lost territories, or perhaps an effort to seize land that it can then use as a bargaining chip in any future negotiations.

World

Madeleine McCann suspect Christian B celebrates release from prison with burger and cigarette

Published

42 mins ago

September 18, 2025

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Madeleine McCann suspect Christian B celebrates release from prison with burger and cigarette

The suspect in the Madeleine McCann case celebrated his release from prison with a fast-food breakfast of chicken nuggets and a burger.

Christian B, 49, was smuggled from a jail near Hanover, hidden in the back of his lawyer’s car and managed to avoid being filmed or pictured by scores of camera operators who had been waiting for several days.

But a photographer caught up with him as he stopped briefly at a McDonald’s restaurant.

Christian B, who cannot be fully identified under German privacy laws, stood outside and smoked a cigarette before eating his food.

Dressed in a lilac shirt, beige trousers and trainers, he ordered chicken nuggets with sweet-and-sour sauce, a burger and a hot drink.

He wore sunglasses, but they did little to disguise the distinctive features that have appeared on TV and on the front of newspapers around the world.

After 15 minutes, he left the restaurant as police blocked the street to allow him to leave freely.

He was driven off again in the black Audi saloon in which his lawyer Friedrich Fulscher had collected him an hour earlier from Sehnde prison.

It’s not known where Christian B was headed after completing an unrelated sentence for the rape of an elderly woman, or who will help him adjust to his new life of freedom.

As part of his release conditions, he’s been fitted with an electronic ankle tag, has had to surrender his passport and register his permanent address with probation officers.

Another of his lawyers, Philipp Marquort, said: “This is an attempt by the public prosecutor’s office to keep him in a kind of pre-trial detention where they would have access to him at any time. We will not accept that.”

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who leads the Madeleine investigation, believes Christian B abducted and murdered the three-year-old during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

The suspect, who has convictions for child sex abuse, theft, drug trafficking and forgery, denies any involvement.

Explainer: The chequered history of Christian B

Madeleine vanished from her bed in a rented apartment as her parents and their friends dined nearby at the hotel complex in Praia da Luz.

Mr Wolters told Sky News he had “almost” enough evidence to charge the suspect, but could not justify arresting him and stopping him from being freed.

He said: “He is dangerous, a psychopath, and we hope he does not commit more crimes, but it is likely he will.”

He said he hadn’t ruled out the chance of charging Christian B: “At the moment, we still have lines of investigation we are pursuing, and we hope we may gain more evidence or indications.

“If that happens, our situation would of course improve, and we would prefer to go to court with that stronger position.”

Christian B, who flitted between Germany and Portugal, has served seven years for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz – two years before Madeleine vanished.

He is expected to appear in a German court next month to face a charge of using insulting behaviour towards a female prison warder. A conviction could put him back in jail.

He also faces a possible retrial after the prosecutor’s appeal against his acquittal last year on unrelated rape and child sex allegations.

Scotland Yard detectives, who failed to charge anyone in their own investigation, revealed this week they had asked Christian B to answer their questions, but he refused, as he has with their German and Portuguese colleagues.

His lawyers dismissed it as an illegal request because investigators had shared none of the prosecution files with him.

According to the prosecutor, the evidence against Christian B in the Madeleine case is circumstantial; his mobile phone was nearby her apartment at the time she vanished, he was a convicted child sex abuser, he had allegedly confessed to a friend, and he had re-registered his car the day after.

There is no forensic evidence to link the suspect to the abduction – and after 18 years, the chances of finding it must be remote.

German criminal profiler Mark T Hofmann told Sky News: “I’m a big believer in second chances, but I’m not that much of a big believer in tenth chances.

“So if you commit a crime, and you do it again and again and again and again, then you need to ask yourself like, why should we believe that he will stop now?

“I wish, and I hope that also he realises that he can maybe now live a different life anonymously in some place, and hopefully stop committing crimes.”

Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, from Leicestershire, cling to the hope their daughter might still be found alive, in the absence of any evidence they are aware of to show she is dead.

World

‘At least 16’ killed in latest Israeli attacks on Gaza – as 10 children arrive in UK for NHS treatment

Published

18 hours ago

September 17, 2025

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'At least 16' killed in latest Israeli attacks on Gaza - as 10 children arrive in UK for NHS treatment

At least 16 people are said to have died overnight in Israeli attacks in Gaza – as the first group of 10 children arrived in the UK for urgent NHS treatment.

Officials said more than half of those killed in the latest attacks were in Gaza City, where Israel this week began a major ground offensive.

A mother and her child died at an apartment in the city’s Shati refugee camp, according to the Shifa hospital.

The al-Adwa and Nasser hospitals said other victims included a pregnant woman – among three killed when a house was hit in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza – and two parents and their child in the Muwasi area west of Khan Younis.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched its ground assault on Tuesday, in what it called a “new phase” in its bid to destroy Hamas and force the release of the remaining hostages.

It said it was looking into the deaths caused by the latest strikes.

Troops and tanks continued to push deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday despite widespread condemnation of the attempt to take full control of the city.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has called the operation “utterly reckless and appalling”.

Ms Cooper – who last night helped greet the pro-Israel President Trump – said it would “only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages”.

Meanwhile, 10 critically ill and injured children from Gaza have arrived in Britain for medical care alongside 50 companions, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.

It said they were first evacuated to Jordan and that “robust” security checks were undertaken before the group got approval to travel.

The foreign secretary said the children were “unable to get the medical care they need to survive” in Gaza.

More are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, in what Health Secretary Wes Streeting said “reflects the very best of our NHS values – compassion, care and expertise when it matters most”.

A small number of children were previously brought to the UK and are being treated privately through the Project Pure Hope initiative.

It comes as a coalition of aid groups today urged the international community to do more to stop Israel’s attacks, which it said had caused “an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.

“States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action,” said a statement signed by the heads of more than 20 organisations working in Gaza.

The call comes a day after a UN commission said Israel was committing genocide in Gaza – a claim the country vehemently denies as “distorted and false”.

Sky News analysis shows thousands of families remain in crowded tent camps in Gaza City, with the UN estimating last week that a million people remain there. Israel, however, believes 40% of the population has already fled south.

Many are taking what little they can and attempting the perilous journey south after Israel warned them to evacuate ahead of it new offensive.

The IDF said another route south for those fleeing would open from noon local time on Wednesday, running along Salah al-Din street along Gaza’s coastline, for two days.

Israel has not said how long its Gaza City operation will last, but that it will involve both air and ground forces and the number of soldiers will increase over the coming days.

It insists it takes strenuous efforts to issue warnings and avoid civilian casualties, but that it’s complicated by Hamas deliberately embedding itself in civilian areas.

Health officials in Gaza say nearly 65,000 people have died in the two years of the war – a figure that does not specify the number of Hamas members killed.

The terror attack on Israel in October 2023 killed around 1,200 and saw 251 taken hostage. Forty-eight remain in Gaza, but fewer then half are though to still be alive.