A captive from Kherson is not provided with medical care in a Russian colony

A disabled volunteer from Kherson, Mykola Petrovsky, illegally convicted in the Russian Federation, is not provided with medical care. During almost four years of Russian captivity, his condition has significantly worsened.

This was reported by the father of the captive, Mykola Petrovsky.

He noted that even before the full-scale invasion, Mykola had many health problems.

In captivity, due to the use of a prosthesis, his spine became curved and herniated intervertebral discs appeared. Previously, he was engaged in physical education, which helped support the muscles of the spine and prevent severe curvature. In the current conditions, this is not the case, his condition has significantly worsened: the prosthesis broke, he cannot walk on it. The stump has dried up, there is no medical supervision, wounds are forming.

Even before his detention, staphylococcus was found in him, he was treated. But now the disease has worsened: abscesses and boils have formed all over his body, and nothing is being done to treat it.

“They have a medical department at the colony, but there are only basic supplies – a headache pill, etc. This is not a place to treat people with chronic diseases or those who need constant supervision and rehabilitation. That is, there is a complete lack of medical care in the Russian colony,” said Mykola’s father.

The man has a group 3 disability – he has no part of his foot. Due to poor nutrition and inadequate medical care, his leg is drying up and the prosthesis that was there no longer fits, and they are not providing a new one.

In addition, Mykola had previously been in two road accidents. He had a damaged left jaw, 6 fractures in the upper jaw, and a traumatic brain injury:

During the occupation of Kherson, Mykola began buying and delivering food for the elderly. Since he had a prosthetic foot, he rode a bicycle to deliver provisions. At the end of March 2022, the man was detained by the Russian military. He was accused of “espionage” for the Ukrainian military. Then, unknown armed men came to the Petrovskys’ house and searched for something. After that, they took him and his son away. The father was released after interrogation. That was the last time he saw his son.

Mykola’s parents first learned from a Russian lawyer on September 29, 2022, that their son was in a Simferopol pre-trial detention center. He was later sentenced to 16 years in a strict regime colony in Crimea for “espionage.” They tried to appeal the verdict of the illegal “Supreme Court,” but the sentence was not changed.

According to human rights activists, most of the local residents were kidnapped by representatives of the Russian Federation in the occupied territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions and transferred to the occupied Crimea. There, they are being held incommunicado in pre-trial detention centers.

According to the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the Russian military is illegally holding 895 civilians captured in the Kherson region. The most common motives for illegal detention were pro-Ukrainian stance and support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.