“I wait for a call having no clue how to tell him tragic news.” A grandmother of a serviceman waiting for a grandson from Russian captivity for 2.5 years

Andrii (name changed for security reasons) is a 28-year-old man from a little town in Sumy region. Over 2.5 years, he has been held in Russian captivity. His mother waited for him but her heart couldn’t resist constant stress and she died in June 2023.

Now, his grandmother fights for his freedom. 79-year-old woman writes letters and pays visits to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, joins protests in support of prisoners of war, and hopes to live till the day when her grandson will be released.

A rally in support of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Trostianets, October 2024

“He is so young but has been in captivity for already 30 months”

I meet Andrii’s grandmother after a protest in support of prisoners of war.
“I want my grandson to come back home as soon as possible. He is so young but has been in captivity for already 30 months. I think about whether my child has food or water whenever I eat. Why is this his fate?”

Since childhood, he’s always been serious. As a child, he was discreet and calm when everyone was having fun, he never started a conflict, says his grandmother. He spent much time in sports, wanted to become a sportsman, and didn’t even consider other options. Andrii attended a youth sports school. He got 53 medals, cups, and other awards for boxing, pankrationPankration is an Ancient Greek combat sport., and judo. His greatest achievement was the title of Master of SportsMaster of Sports is a title bestowed to Ukrainian sportspeople for significantly contributing to Ukrainian sports..

After graduating from Sumy Pedagogical University, Andrii went with his friend to Poland for work. Later, he returned to his hometown. After a while, he received a draft notice and decided to sign a three-year contract with the military. In 2020, he started serving in the National Guard of UkraineThe National Guard of Ukraine is a military force under the command of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The grandmother said two years of his service went well. He liked his job and his team. He was trained as an APCArmoured personnel carrier (APC) is a armoured military vehicle. gunner. The man had even time for sports and participated in competitions representing his military unit.

In January 2022, his last year of service, Andrii was sent to the Luhansk region. He served at a checkpoint in a village near the Russian border. He said he saw Russians, but the situation was stable. Andrii and his brothers-in-arms trained, cooked, and prepared firewood for the winter together.

Russia occupied the village where Andrii served on 24 February 2022. The man told his family that the management had informed them about the invasion when they had already seen a convoy of Russian tanks moving towards them. 26 men, Andrii included, couldn’t leave the checkpoint because they took an oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people. Having received an order, the platoon entered the battle but the amount of enemy’s forces prevailed. Their checkpoint was destroyed.

The following order was to reach the closest settlement under the control of Ukraine. The servicemen had wandered around the woods for 4 days before they found another village occupied by the enemy. A local man hosted and fed the group. He warned them that there were traitors in the village, so they immediately would have reported to the occupiers if they had found out. And so it happened after two days.

“My grandson called from the phone of a man who hosted our boys and said they would stay there. We saved that number. Later, we called and that man didn’t respond for a long time. When he picked up a phone, he said that LPR menLPR men are militants of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic. This is a terrorist group created by Russia on the temporarily occupied territory of the Luhansk region of Ukraine. had taken our boys in an unknown direction,” shares grandmother.

The family learned that their boy was held in captivity when Russians published photos of Andrii’s platoon with him in May.

The letter from the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said that the serviceman went missing on 3 March 2022 during his combat operations and that he “bravely performed his military duty in a battle for Ukraine, its freedom, and independence.” On 1 January 2024, the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed that Andrii was in a penal colony on the occupied territory of the Luhansk region. Later, the aggressor country confirmed it too as a reply to the letter from Andrii’s mother.

“I don’t know how to tell him that his mother is gone”

“When my daughter was alive, she visited the Coordination Headquarters, submitted documents, and asked them to prepare all materials for the exchange,” tells grandmother. “They replied that they would do their best and include him in the lists. But nobody has exchanged him yet. The daughter visited Kyiv four times. And when she died, I started visiting the city, a 79-year-old woman.”

Due to the constant stress, Andrii’s mother got abdominal lymphoma. The woman died in June 2023, before she could see her son being released from captivity. Grandmother says that her daughter saw her son in dreams. He comforted her and told her she would get better. The miracle didn’t happen.

“Every person has lymph nodes, but in a normal state, they don’t bother the body. My daughter usually came home, fell onto the bed, and cried from sorrow, almost fainting in the end. Her lymph nodes became inflamed. She wanted to live so much, wanted to see her son. She started chemotherapy but her heart stopped during the third chemo session.”

Andrii’s mother embroidered with beads to calm herself down. Their house was decorated with her works — embroidered icons, towels, and pictures. Grandmother wants to arrange it all in one exhibition.

Grandmother is worried now about how to tell her grandson about his mother’s death. Captivity is traumatic for the man; now there is this news about the closest person.

“I talked with one woman and she recommended holding the news about his mother when the grandson calls. I will talk to a psychologist about how to tell him. It is such a trauma for a child. He loves his mother so much because they have spent all their life together, without a father. She shared her happiness with me and said: ‘Mom, when my son walks with me in a military uniform, I am so proud and happy I have him that I even cannot feel the ground under me’,” the grandmother says through tears.

She always carries her daughter’s phone: when the grandson is free, he will call his mother.

“I keep my daughter’s and mine phones near my heart every day and night, so to say. I wait for his call but I don’t know how to tell him that his mother is gone,” grandmother says sadly.

No news from grandson since March 2022

For the entire time the man has been held in captivity, there was no news from him. When mother was alive, she wrote him letters but no one knows if he received them.

Before I met the grandmother, she had a call from a man who was released in the last prisoner exchange on 17 July 2024. He was kept in the same penal colony as Andrii, thus he needed to talk with Andrii’s relatives.

“He called me and said he had never met anyone like my grandson. Andrii doesn’t argue with others, finds an approach to everyone, and shows kindness. I asked how he was, if he was very sick there, and the man answered: ‘He is alive.’ I asked if they were severely tortured. He said: ‘Bearable. Andrii is a strong man, he resists everything. Just remember: he is alive.’ I was so happy that the man called and I could hear at least something about my grandson,” grandmother says.

She gently shares how friendly Andrii is. He has many acquaintances who care about how he is.

“Everyone supports us. They ask when either call or meet me: ‘How is your grandson?’”

At the end of our conversation, grandmother confessed that she was severely sick. She is concerned about what will happen to her grandson if he returns and finds out his mother and grandmother are gone.

“The whole world wants their children to come back home. And the war to be over. In January, I had surgery and was diagnosed with cancer. But I want to live till the moment I see him.”

ЗAccording to estimations of the Media Initiative for Human Rights, as of May 2024, over 10,000 Ukrainian servicepeople are held in Russian captivity. During Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Coordination Headquarters brought back home 3767 Ukrainian prisoners of war.