Kherson region resident Mykola Shcherbyna, abducted by Russians, develops gangrene due to unsanitary conditions in Russian pre-trial detention center

The condition of 24-year-old Kherson Region resident Mykola Shcherbyna, who was abducted by Russians in 2022, is currently critical – his legs have begun to rot due to the terrible dampness and unsanitary conditions in the Russian pre-trial detention center.

Mykola’s mother reported that in February 2025, in a prison in the city of Kamyshin in the Russian Federation, guards brutally beat Mykola just for daring to ask for medical help. After the abuse, the boy’s blood vessels in his eyes burst, and due to constant malnutrition, he lost critical weight.

Released prisoners who were in the same cell with Mykola describe the conditions as inhumane: the premises are covered in mold, and tuberculosis and scabies are spreading among the prisoners. Instead of fully treating the wounds on the boy’s legs, they simply smeared him with brilliant green, and only after long requests was a course of antibiotics prescribed.

Before that, Russia officially confirmed the detention of a civilian man, charging him with “counteracting a special military operation.”

As a reminder, the Russian military first tried to illegally detain Mykola Shcherbyna at a checkpoint in the village of Priozerne, in the Kherson region. The boy was then released, but on November 14, during searches of local residents’ homes, he was taken from his home.