Newly arrived inmates were the only real source of information for Ukrainians in Russian prisons, says UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, recently released from Russian captivity, in an interview with Detector Media.
Khyliuk says that he and his fellow prisoners received few to no letters from Ukraine and that messages from the Red Cross were exceptions.
“I received a single letter from my family and my colleagues from UNIAN, dated June 10 or 12, 2023. And I received it almost two years after it was sent, in March 2025. Almost all of us, 90%, received none,” he said.
New prisoners were the main source of news for them.
“Some things get through, but not many. First of all, the source of such information is people who were captured later. We in our cells would dream that a ‘new guy’ would be placed with us,” the journalist noted.
In the meantime, the Russians tried to promote their own propaganda among the prisoners. Printouts with Soviet slogans and photographs were hung on the walls of the cells.
“One poster showed the Soviet pilot Kozhedub with the caption, ‘This is Ivan Kozhedub, a Ukrainian and a hero, and you are a Banderite who sold yourself to the West.’ I found such propaganda funny,” Khyliuk said.
He stressed that despite the isolation, the prisoners were confident that they were being fought for and felt society’s powerful support after their release.
As IMI reported, UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, who had been kidnapped by Russian forces in Kyiv oblast in March 2022, was released on 24 August, 2025.
