A Ukrainian soldier described the conditions of captivity in Chechnya.

Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Chechnya for more than three years were exploited by local authorities at construction sites, forcing them to work for food, according to former prisoner Sergei Skotarenko.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on April 24, State Duma deputy from Chechnya Shamsail Saraliev reported another prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, claiming that the Ukrainian participants in the exchange were captured by fighters from the Akhmat unit. The 193 Ukrainians who returned home that day were held in Chechnya.

A participant in the April 24 prisoner exchange, 52-year-old Ukrainian Sergei Skotarenko, spoke about the conditions in which he and his compatriots were held in Chechnya. Skotarenko spent more than three years in captivity and was considered missing at home for a long time. UNIAN published the former prisoner's interview on July 30.

According to Skotarenko, he was captured in March 2023: on the first day, he and his fellow soldiers were tortured by "DPR" fighters, but then the new prisoners were "sold" to Chechens, which "saved" him. "They are concerned about the fate of their soldiers and want to exchange them for our fighters. They are not interested in Russian soldiers (...) They do not have the means to take prisoners, so they buy them for money or exchange them for something else," he explained the mechanism for "buying" prisoners.

Skotarenko noted that "Chechens have extensive experience in treating prisoners." According to the former prisoner of war, he spent the first two years "sitting in the same traffic police basement," where living conditions were harsh, but the treatment of Ukrainians in Chechnya was comparatively acceptable.

“They understand that if they treat us poorly, they might do the same to Chechen fighters in Ukrainian captivity. Of course, there were incidents, provocations, and instances of cruelty. But mostly, they were stopped by their own people. They constantly kept us on edge, tried to exert moral pressure, and tried to sway us to their side. Compared to the conditions in Russian prisons, overall, they treated us normally,” the former serviceman stated.

The Chechen authorities were willing to exchange Ukrainians held in Chechnya “only for their own,” that is, for Chechen fighters, but an agreement on such an exchange was long in coming.

“In Chechnya, they didn’t want to exchange us for Russian soldiers. They said, ‘We won’t hand you over to Russia or anyone else. You’ll stay here as long as ours are with you.’” "You'll only go to the exchange when there are Chechens. If there are no Chechens in the exchange, you won't go anywhere either." (...) They explained this by saying that we weren't on the Russian Red Cross list, or any other list. We were only registered in Chechnya," he explained. Skotarenko confirmed that at some point, he and other prisoners were forced to record a video message to the Ukrainian authorities asking for assistance in their release—the Chechen authorities needed this to "speed up" the exchange of combatants from Chechnya.

Work for food

After some time, the prisoners were offered to work for food—two bowls of soup a day and bread. Skotarenko noted that he "returned from captivity weighing 55 kg instead of 70 and with tuberculosis."

“They told us: ‘Since you’re not being taken away, you have to earn your own food.’ We had to work. They started putting us to work. (...) When they learned that almost everyone among us was either a builder or a welder, and that we knew how to work with our hands, they were very happy. We worked, and their management got paid for it. We were recruited to build both multi-story and private homes. Representatives of Grozny’s elite ‘hired’ us to work,” claims Sergei Skotarenko.

Conditions for prisoners at the construction site improved: during the first two years, the Ukrainians were held in the basement, where they “sat on top of each other” – they were allowed to go to the toilet once a day and wash in cold water once a week.

The local residents sympathized with us and tried to help in every way: they brought food, clothing, and other things.

“Those two years were very difficult. When we were transported to the construction site, there were two large basements. There were 98 people in ours, and even more in the next one. These rooms were connected, so we could visit each other and communicate. There was already a toilet, shower, and proper lighting. Our guys made beds for us from scrap materials. Everything we wanted, we improved ourselves,” the former prisoner said.

According to the Ukrainian, the prisoners were treated with sympathy by the local residents, who “know what war is, having lived through it themselves and remembering it.” “When we were brought to the construction site, the local residents sympathized with us and tried to help in every way: they brought food, clothing, and other things. They said, ‘Guys, hang in there.’” "You'll return home anyway," he recalls.

On Easter, the Chechens brought Easter cakes to the prisoners. "Everyone was very surprised. They said, 'This is a very big holiday for you. We are also religious people, so we respect your holidays,'" the prisoner added.

Dozens of Ukrainian prisoners remain in Chechnya

According to Skotarenko, when he arrived in Chechnya, there were only about 40 Ukrainian prisoners there, but "closer to the exchange," there were already 225. "We returned 193 Ukrainian servicemen. About 35 of our guys remained in those basements," Sergei concluded.

During his entire captivity, Sergei managed to talk to his wife three times - twice by video call and once by phone. "My wife was known because she made so much effort for me, which is why I was allowed to speak with her three times.

There were guys who never got a chance to speak with their families. Some were allowed to call on the condition that they give an interview to local television," he explained.

Shamsail Saraliev stated back in October 2025 that hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war captured by "Akhmat" were being held in Chechnya, noting that there were preconditions for their return to their homeland. Analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" then indicated that they were unable to obtain reliable data on the Ukrainians held in Chechnya. Human rights activists have also noted that prisoners in Russia are held in inhumane conditions, regularly subjected to beatings, torture, humiliating treatment, and psychological pressure.

Back in 2024, Ramzan Kadyrov claimed that in Chechnya, "up to 10 Ukrainian prisoners are being held at every strategic facility," who are used as "human shields" and hostages. On October 29, 2024, when a drone attack caught fire at a building on the grounds of the Russian Special Forces University (RUS) in Gudermes, Kadyrov claimed that Ukrainian prisoners had been killed there.

In January 2024, Kadyrov offered to release 20 Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for lifting sanctions on his family, horses, and planes, but after criticism from z-bloggers, he called these words "heavy trolling."