Returned home without legs: story of Ukrainian intelligence officer who spent 13 days in Russian captivity
Ukrainian intelligence officer Ivan Dziuba spent 13 days in Russian captivity, from where he returned with amputated legs and without a finger on his hand.
The story of the 32-year-old defender was told at the National Rehabilitation Center Nezlamni (‘Unbreakable’ in Ukrainian – ed.), where he is currently undergoing rehabilitation.
Ivan comes from Khmelnytskyi Oblast. Before the full-scale war, he worked in Kyiv at a business that serviced cars.
After Ivan was drafted into the army, he became a scout. First, his group served in Bakhmut, and then they were transferred to the vicinities of Soledar.
During his first combat mission in the new location, Ivan and his two comrades came under fire. Russian forces cut off all possible ways for them to retreat.
During the week, the soldiers were hiding from the Russians in the forest belt. Supplies of water and food ran out quickly, so Ivan and his comrades had to eat snow.
On the eighth day, the soldiers ventured out of hiding. Almost immediately they came across mercenaries of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC). Russian militants shot one of the three Ukrainian intelligence officers on the spot. Two others, Ivan being one of them, were taken prisoner and transported to an unknown location in Luhansk Oblast.
Ivan was brutally tortured. Due to electrocution, the little finger on his right hand burned out. He was also mercilessly beaten on the legs and kept in the cold.
Ivan’s limbs were struck by necrosis and the tissues began to die rapidly. At a local hospital, Ivan's legs were cut off. He was cared for and bandaged by another prisoner, a Ukrainian military medic.
After 13 days, Ivan was handed over to the Ukrainian side. The scout was treated in Dnipro and Kyiv.
He came to the Nezlamni centre for rehabilitation. Ivan received prostheses and now learns to walk again.
"Thanks to daily classes with a physical therapist, Ivan already walks without crutches. What’s more, he even helps other ‘indestructible’ guys who are still in the wheelchair to move. After rehabilitation, Ivan wants to return to [military – ed.] duty," the representative of the Nezlamni centre says.
Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
