Released Ukrainian prisoner of war reveals torment at the hands of Russians
When Ukrainian marine, Mikhailo Dianov, was released from Russian detention, his photo shocked the world.
His body was emaciated after four months as a prisoner of war.
When I met him, he was unrecognisable from the photos I’d seen of the well-built fighter in Mariupol, Ukraine. His clothes hung from his frail frame. His gaunt face seemed far older than his 42 years.
I had so many questions. Crucially, did you worry you wouldn’t survive?
“We thought about this every day,” Mikhailo tells me. “We first started having those thoughts at the Azovstal steel plant.
“At Azovstal we thought it was the end.”
Ukraine forces Russian troops out of critical town – live updates
Mikhailo was taken following weeks under siege in Mariupol defending the steel works. It was the last corner of the city to fall in May.
He was among 215 recently released in a high-profile prisoner swap with Russia, and spoke exclusively with Sky News about captivity.
“Believe me, after a month of being starved, when you close your eyes, you forget about your family, about your country, about everything. The only thing you think about is food.”
‘They treated us like animals’
Mikhailo lost 40kg (more than six stone) in weight in his four months as a prisoner of war.
“It was impossible to eat. You were given 30 seconds for each meal,” says Mikhailo. “In 30 seconds you had to eat everything you could.
The day of his release
“Bread was deliberately very hard. Guys who had their teeth knocked out couldn’t manage to eat in time.
“It was 30 seconds, and then you had to stop. Then you had to get up straight away and run. It was like that all the time.
“They treated us like animals.”
The meals sound pitiful, and the process of eating utterly humiliating.
This all took place in the Olenivka prison in Russian-controlled Donetsk – a place Mikhailo refers to as a concentration camp.
It clearly seems prisoners of war being held there are being starved deliberately.
Read more:
The fall of Mariupol
Ukrainian prisoners taken from Azovstal
Prisoners were ‘beaten with sticks and given electric shocks’
He describes how they would be thrown in solitary confinement and tortured for picking up a berry from the ground and eating it.
He says they were beaten with sticks, given electric shocks and had needles put under their nails
The layout of the prison has concentration camp connotations, too.
From the air, satellite images reveal identical blocks in a row where prisoners are housed.
Mikahilo says the blocks are designed for 150 people, but he was packed into one with 800 other prisoners.
The conditions were so cramped, his leg muscles wasted and walking is now a challenge. We don’t walk far together and soon find a bench for him to rest.
It is very hard for us to verify what is happening in Olenivka prison due to the lack of access to Russian controlled areas.
We’ve spoken to the partner of another Azovstal fighter who was released in the same prisoner swap. She describes similar conditions and also refers to the place as a concentration camp.
Then there’s Mikhailo’s physical condition, which speaks for itself.
One thing we do know about Olenivka prison is it was bombed in July and more than 50 people were killed. I ask Mikhailo about the attack.
The steel plant was almost completely destroyed
He’d been at a different location at the time, receiving treatment on his arm. He describes a reckless operation carried out with a pair of pliers and no anaesthesia.
Before he was taken prisoner, a photo at Azovstal shows Mikhailo with a bandage on his broken right arm. During his time in captivity, the bone healed in a semicircle due to a lack of medical care.
Then this – the moment he was released.
“We were stripped completely naked. They took off our medical casts, everything. They searched us. And then we had to squat like that for five hours. Without a bench, of course.
“We simply waited. We didn’t know what was going to happen to us,” says Mikhailo.
He has a large graze at the top of his nose. I ask what happened.
“Duct tape,” he replies. “They wrapped tape around my head and pushed their legs into my stomach, so they could make it tighter, and I spent a day, a day and a half like that.”
Relatives and friends of defenders of the Azovstal steel works campaigned for their release
‘A lot of things have lost their value’
He travelled for 36 hours with his eyes taped with no idea where he was going – moved from a bus to an aeroplane to a bus again.
It was only after the tape was finally removed that he realised he was back in Ukraine.
He now needs to gain 20kg before he can have corrective surgery on his arm.
The psychological impact will likely take far longer to treat.
“Everyone is traumatised,” he tells me, “I consider myself to be a mentally strong person, but for me a lot of things have lost their value.”
The picture he’s painted of Russian detention is far worse than many imagined.
Many of the conditions described are against the Geneva Conventions. And thousands more Ukrainian prisoners of war are understood to still be in Olenivka prison.
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A woman who accused Conor McGregor of raping her has said “justice has been served” after she won her civil case against the Irish mixed martial arts fighter.
Nikita Hand has been awarded €248,603 (£206,000) in damages after a jury at Dublin’s High Court found McGregor assaulted her in a Dublin hotel in 2018.
McGregor, 36, made no comment as he swiftly left court following the decision on Friday evening.
He had previously told the court he had consensual sex with Ms Hand in a penthouse at the Beacon Hotel in December 2018.
Speaking outside court after the decision, an emotional Ms Hand said the weeks of her civil case against the fighter have been a “nightmare” and has impacted not only her life but her daughter’s, friends and loved ones.
“I would like to start off by saying I’m overwhelmed and touched by the support I have received from everybody,” the mother-of-one said.
Ms Hand said the civil case had been a ‘nightmare’. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA
“It’s something that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.
“Now that justice has been served, I can now try and move on and look forward to the future with my family and friends and daughter.”
Addressing other victims of sexual assault, Ms Hand continued: “I hope my story is a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be: Speak up, you have a voice and keep on fighting for justice.
“You can stand up for yourself if something happens to you – no matter who the person is – and justice will be served.”
McGregor and partner Dee Devlin leave the High Court. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA
Ms Hand told the court McGregor pinned her to a bed, choked her three times and “brutally raped and battered” her.
The civil court jury was told she was left with extensive injuries, including purple and blue bruising along her hands and wrists, a bloodied scratch to her breast and tenderness to her neck.
But lawyers for the fighter contested the lawsuit and accused her of attempted “extortion”.
They pointed to CCTV footage of Ms Hand arriving at and leaving the hotel with McGregor and a second man, James Lawrence, whom she also accused of sexual assault.
Both McGregor and Lawrence denied any wrongdoing. While Ms Hand won her case against McGregor, she lost her claim against Lawrence.
On Monday, McGregor’s legal team told jurors it did not matter if they did not like or even loathed the famous fighter, urging them to look at the evidence and not his character.
McGregor and Ms Hand knew each other and had occasionally been in contact on social media, the civil trial heard.
Before the assault, Ms Hand had contacted the fighter, who picked up her and a friend in his car.
McGregor “came on to her”, but she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him as she was on her period, the court heard.
World
Arrest warrants issued for Israeli PM Netanyahu and former defence secretary Gallant and senior Hamas commander over alleged war crimes
Arrest warrants have been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence secretary Yoav Gallant and a senior Hamas commander by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The warrants against the senior Israeli figures are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza that Israel launched following the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
The prime minister’s office said the warrants against him and Gallant were “anti-semitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”.
Another warrant was issued for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Al Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was the mastermind behind the 7 October attacks. It is unclear if he is still alive, following an airstrike that Israel claimed killed him earlier this year.
Neither Israel nor the US are members of the ICC. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden described the warrants against Israeli leaders as “outrageous”, adding “whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were a “mark of shame” for the ICC.
The court originally said it was seeking arrest warrants for the three men in May for the alleged crimes and today announced that it had rejected challenges by Israel and issued warrants of arrest.
The new UK Labour government said in the summer it would not oppose the ICC’s right to issue the warrants.
Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN general assembly. Pic: Reuters
Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
In its update, the ICC said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged crimes.
These, the court said, include “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
Netanyahu previously spoke of his “disgust” at the suggestion the ICC would seek an arrest warrant for him.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the ICC’s decision sent a “terrible message”.
“The court has minimised how Hamas fights – deliberately from within civilian infrastructure and cruelly using Palestinian civilians as human shields, tragically leading to many casualties,” the board said.
“Democratic governments, and people around the world, should consider how they would have responded to an October 7th perpetrated against their country, involving mass murder, rape, and hostage-taking.
“We should all be focused on defeating the Hamas terrorists, liberating the hostages, ensuring that civilians in Gaza receive all necessary aid and working towards a sustainable peace for Israelis and Palestinians to prevent these horrible conflicts in the future.
“The decision of the ICC is counter-productive in all these respects.”
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A video released by Hamas in 2005 shows a man identified as Mohammed Deif. Pic: AP
Warrant for Hamas leader
The ICC also said it has issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Al Masri, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes including taking hostages.
Discussing the 7 October attacks, the court said: “In light of the coordinated killings of members of civilians at several separate locations, the Chamber also found that the conduct took place as part of a mass killing of members of the civilian population, and it therefore concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of extermination was committed.”
In its statement, the ICC said the prosecution was not in a position to determine whether Al Masri is dead or alive, so was issuing the arrest warrant.
The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas who was subsequently killed in July.
The home secretary has refused to say if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he landed on British soil after an international arrest warrant was issued for him.
On Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence secretary Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza.
But Yvette Cooper said the ICC, which the UK is a member of, is independent and while the government respects that, it “wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment” on the processes involved.
She told Sky News: “We’ve always respected the importance of international law, but in the majority of the cases that they pursue, they don’t become part of the British legal process.
“What I can say is that obviously, the UK government’s position remains that we believe the focus should be on getting a ceasefire in Gaza.”
However, Emily Thornberry, Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee in parliament, told Sky News: “If Netanyahu comes to Britain, our obligation under the Rome Convention would be to arrest him under the warrant from the ICC.
“Not really a question of should, we are required to because we are members of the ICC.”
The government said after winning July’s election it would not oppose the ICC’s right to issue the warrants.
An ICC arrest warrant was also issued for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri, the mastermind behind the 7 October attacks in Israel, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel claims Al Masri was killed earlier this year but the ICC said that has not been confirmed, so it was issuing the arrest warrant.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant (right) have arrest warrants against them. File pic: Reuters
Netanyahu’s office said the warrants against him and Gallant were “anti-semitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”.
Neither Israel nor the US are members of the ICC. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden described the warrants against Israeli leaders as “outrageous”, adding: “Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.”
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were a “mark of shame” for the ICC.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the ICC’s decision sent a “terrible message”.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he would invite Netanyahu to visit Hungary and he would guarantee the arrest warrant would “not be observed”.
However, both France and Italy signalled they would arrest Netanyahu if he came to their countries.
Read more:
What satellite images tell us about North Gaza
Hamas ready for Gaza ceasefire ‘immediately’
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Why have arrest warrants been issued?
The ICC originally said it was seeking arrest warrants for the three men in May for the alleged crimes and on Thursday announced that it had rejected challenges by Israel and issued warrants of arrest.
In its update, the ICC said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged crimes.
These, the court said, include “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
It is the first time a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice.
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