A Ukrainian interpreter working has told how he was brutally tortured by Russian forces who took him prisoner for nine days.
The shocking account provided by “Nikita”, who works for Radio France, is just the latest story to emerge about the cruel techniques and policies being ordered by Vladimir Putin in his invasion of Ukraine.
Nikita was beaten with an iron bar, tortured with electricity and subjected to a mock execution during his captivity, according to a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The 32-year-old, who has worked with foreign media for nearly a decade, was seized by Russian soldiers on March 5 in the middle of the country, said Fox News.
RSF, which confirmed it had been able to verify Nikita’s story, said: “Nikita’s account is frightening: machine-gunning of his car, torture with a knife and electricity, repeated beatings with rifle butts and steel bars in the face and body, mock execution, food deprivation for 48 hours.”
Nikita has now been released and is safe somewhere in Ukraine.
Journalists Oleh Baturyn and Viktoria Roshchina, who had previously been snatched, have since been released, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
But photojournalist Maks Levin is still missing, having last been seen on March 13 near Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
In a tweet, Kyiv Independent reporter Illia Ponomarenko said: “Our good friend, talented war photojournalist Maks Levin, has gone missing. He had yet another field day in a combat zone outside Kyiv on March 13.
"Ever since then, no one has had any contact with him. If you follow this war, you have definitely seen a lot of his works.”
Last week, cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, who had been working with Fox News in Ukraine, were killed when their vehicle was fired on. Reporter Benjamin Hall was injured but has since made it out of the country alive.
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And journalist Brent Renaud was shot dead by Russians outside Kyiv earlier in March.
Early on in the war, Sky News reporter Stuart Ramsay and cameraman Richie Mockler were shot when the car their team was travelling in came under attack.
At first they thought they’d accidentally been caught in crossfire, but the shooting only intensified when they identified themselves as journalists.
It was suspected that the attack was mounted by a Russian surveillance squad.
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