Survivor of the Isolatsia Hell, the secret Russian prison in Donetsk
a novel – Stanislav Aseev was held incommunicado and tortured for more than two years. His torturer was convicted in January 2024 and conscripted into the Ukrainian army.
- Special correspondent in Dnipro
The man looks a bit lost as he wears his military uniform in a shopping mall in Dnipro, Ukraine's third-largest city on the banks of the Dnieper River. Outside, arctic winds blow snow from the icy sidewalks. Stanislav Aseev does not overcome the slightest excitement. In another life, cold, suffering and loneliness were his daily life. The 34-year-old soldier joined the army on leave a month ago. Since then, he trained to shoot a bazooka before joining an infantry unit in the army “gray area”Outside the front between Ukrainian and Russian forces. Everyone in Ukraine has their own personal reasons for volunteering: a father, brother or husband killed on the front or in Russian bombing, reclaiming their village occupied by the enemy, or simply defending their homeland. Stanislav Aseev has escaped the hell of Russian secret prisons in his home city of Donetsk, controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014. Although the situation is critical for Kiev along the front line, he has decided to take up arms to prevent the Russians from transforming his country. To a giant “torture chamber”.
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