Ukrainian Soldier With Cut Throat Crawls Five Days To Escape

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, doctors are treating 33 year old Ukrainian soldier Vladyslav, who survived Russian captivity after his throat was cut. He managed to crawl back toward Ukrainian lines for nearly five days before being found. Suspilne, Ukraine’s public broadcaster, reported the case.

Unable to speak because of his injuries, Vladyslav has kept a diary. His wife, Viktoriia, and his brother, Yevhen, recounted that a few weeks ago his brigade lost a position near Pokrovsk. He was captured while trying to help fellow soldiers. According to their account, captors tortured prisoners; earlier detainees suffered extreme mutilation. Vladyslav’s throat was cut and he was thrown into a pit with seven other soldiers, presumed dead.

After the assailants left, he tied cloth around his neck and, with his hands bound, used a broken bottle to cut the rope. Covered by trash dumped over the pit, he crawled for days toward Ukrainian positions. On 17 August he was taken to a hospital in critical condition with severe blood loss and infected wounds. The hospital director said his chances were slim but noted his determination to survive.

Vladyslav has undergone surgery, and ENT surgeons are working to restore his ability to breathe and speak, aiming to leave no visible scar. Staff said this is the first case of this type of injury they have treated in the 11 years of the war.

Despite everything, his brother says Vladyslav is already thinking about returning to the front, writing that those who did this should feel what he and his seven comrades felt.