The Russians mock the Ukrainian journalist Khilyuk in captivity

Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Hylyuk is being held in a prison in the Volodymyr region of Russia. Currently, its weight can be no more than 45 kilograms. This was learned from former cellmate Hylyuk.

Ihor, who spent more than a year in the same prison cell with Dmytro Hylyuk, spoke about the terrible conditions of detention. According to him, the Russians deprived the prisoners of food, beat them, forced them to walk naked in the prison yard in the middle of winter at minus 10 degrees Celsius. In addition, special servicemen or guards occasionally baited dogs at prisoners. Ukrainians were regularly forced to sing the Russian national anthem. According to Igor, Hylyuk, like all his cellmates, probably weighs “no more than 45 kilograms.”

“We asked Russia for proof of life, and we received — on our own — new evidence of the brutality inflicted on journalist Dmitri Khilyuk and his fellow prisoners. Not only does Russia continue to lie about his fate, it encourages degrading, inhumane treatment of prisoners. To hostages held by criminal or terrorist groups in other parts of the world are treated with more respect and dignity,” said Reporters Without Borders Head of Investigative Department Arno Froger.

Froger called on the Russian authorities to release Hylyuk, and the Ukrainian authorities to redouble their efforts to get him “out of this hell.”

In April of this year The Ministry of Defense of the aggressor country Russia has confirmed the detention of Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Hylyuk, who was abducted by the Russian military from the village of Kozarovychy in the Kyiv region during the occupation of the region in the spring of 2022.

On April 16, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets appealed to the Russian side after information appeared confirming the stay of Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Khylyuk in the territory of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation.