Ukraine War: The Horror Story of a Ukrainian Taxi Driver Beating, Stunned, and Imprisoned in a Forest Hole | World News

The moment Mykhailo Orlovskyi was captured by Russian forces on his own dash cam.

He can be seen being chased away by soldiers on top of an armored vehicle, his arms in the air.

At this moment, a Russian soldier is driving the car of Mykhailo – the car that is making the arrest in real time.

“The first thing that comes to my mind is how to survive. The second thing is I’m going to die,” he told Sky News.

The images from his dashcam were later published in Russia and posted online by a Russian journalist.

After his arrest, he described how he was stripped of his clothes and glasses and taken to a jungle area.

“They beat us up in the woods, started to torture us, then tied us up and threw us into a pit where they kept us for two days,” he told us.

It was March 7th – and it was freezing cold.

“They threw a jacket over me, then they tied it up. I was just wearing a jacket and sweatpants, that’s all. But thank God that jacket should at least have a hood. .

“At the bottom, cardboard is thrown into the pit, and there are also two boxes where you can sit.”

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Mykhailo was a civilian taxi driver but helped the Ukrainian army as a volunteer.

After two days in the hole in the woods, he was taken by helicopter to a prison in Kursk, Russia.

“We were moved from office to office, from interrogation to interrogation.

“We were constantly having to sign documents, being questioned, beaten.

“Everything lasted about six hours. They took us to a separate room where they beat us with boxing gloves to the kidneys, liver, ribs, neck and legs.

“They also used a stun gun. They hit us really hard.”

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He described how male and female prisoners were both shaved, their blood samples, DNA and fingerprints taken.

“They took my phone and even my wedding ring,” he said. “They took all my documents…passport, driver’s license. All that remains with them.”

Nearly 500 Ukrainian civilians are currently in Russian prisons.

Mykhailo stayed for a total of four weeks before being swapped in a prisoner exchange in April.

During his detention, he was asked to sing the Russian national anthem, which was played over and over again.

“There was a radio, a loudspeaker hanging over the door. And when the national anthem was played, and it was played about 10-15 times a day, we had to line up and sing the anthem of the Russian Federation.”

Mom’s best birthday present

Meanwhile in Ukraine, Mykhailo’s family is sick of worrying about what happened to him. After two weeks, they finally found a photo of Russia after his arrest that had been posted online.

When Mykhailo learned he would be swapped in a prisoner exchange, he sobbed during the three-hour drive to the border. It was April 10 – his mother’s birthday.

“I called her and told her everything was fine with me, that I was alive and well. I remember her tears of joy. She was so happy that God was going to give her a treat. such a gift for a birthday.”

Remembering this, he burst into tears and had to stop.

Finally, he continued: “A very difficult moment was when I was talking to my brother and he told me there was a time when he thought I was dead, that I was no longer there. It’s difficult even now.”

Still processing

Mykhailo filmed his arrest. His personal belongings remained on the ground – his glasses case, his AirPods, his business card.

He also found his Mercedes – now completely burned but the serial number is still visible.

Without a car, he has lost his livelihood. Obviously starting from scratch, finances are weighing heavily on him.

That, along with the tough challenge he’s obviously still dealing with.

But he managed to escape with an important message to the world about the horrors of Ukrainian civilians in Russian custody.