A Ukrainian prisoner-of-war camp in the western part of the country holds soldiers who served in the Russian army. Among them are Ukrainian citizens from occupied areas who chose to join Russian forces and fight against Ukraine.
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Behind the camp’s high walls and guarded gates are men from various Russian cities, as well as people born in Ukraine.
Some of the Russian prisoners were recruited in major urban centers, including St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. Unlike during the first period of the full-scale invasion, when recruits mainly came from Russia’s poorer and more remote regions, the composition of the forces appears to have changed.
However, the group also includes Ukrainians who decided to fight alongside Russia.
“I consider myself Russian”
Anton was 10 years old when pro-Russian forces took control of the part of Donbas where he lived. When Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he turned 18 and immediately enlisted in the Russian army.
He says he does not regret the decision because, in his view, he went to defend his own land. Anton says his friends also volunteered, but many of them never returned.
“Then the messages start arriving: dead, dead, dead,” he recalls. Other prisoners describe similar experiences and say that most of those who set off to fight with them were killed.
According to their testimonies, the number of people signing up to replace those killed is declining, even though Russia offers recruits high payments.
Ukraine accuses them of treason
Ukrainian citizens caught fighting on the Russian side face treason charges. After being detained, however, they are sent to the same camps where captured Russian soldiers are held.
Kyiv’s official position is that these people remain Ukrainian and that Russian control over their territories is temporary. But their cases reflect a far more complicated reality.
Petro Yatsenko, who is part of the Ukrainian structure responsible for coordinating prisoner-of-war matters, says they are deeply pro-Russian and that their national identity remains highly unclear.
Anton does not accept that he is a traitor.
“I consider myself Russian. To me, the state does not matter; everything is connected to nationality. My entire family is from Russia, and all my roots are there,” he says.
A generation shaped under Russian control
Many of the Ukrainians serving in Russian forces grew up in territories that have been occupied since 2014.
For years, they have lived under the influence of the Russian education system and media, where the authorities in Kyiv were portrayed as illegitimate and “Nazis.”
Anton has also adopted this perspective and uses arguments resembling those of Russian propaganda when discussing the war.
He calls Vladimir Putin “my president” and believes Russia should continue its efforts to take control of the entire Donbas.
“It is shameful that people died, especially those who were innocent. But war is war. It could have ended, but nobody wanted to make that happen,” he says.
Some say they were forcibly mobilized
Not all Ukrainians captured by Kyiv’s forces claim that they joined the Russian army voluntarily. A man from Donetsk says he was forced to take part in the fighting.
According to him, his family stayed in Donetsk after the invasion not for political reasons or because of a national identity, but because it was their home. Now he only wants to return to his wife and children and not be sent back to the front. “I’ll just hide,” he says.
An estimate based on Ukrainian intelligence data suggests that more than 50,000 Ukrainians may have been forcibly recruited in the occupied territories. Other sources give even higher figures.
Work in the camp for food and cigarettes
To earn money for extra food and cigarettes, the prisoners work in various workshops inside the camp.
In one of them, wooden coffins are built, while another produces artificial Christmas trees and holiday decorations. The scene creates a stark contrast: some of these men arrived in Ukraine to fight, while now, after being captured, they spend their days producing goods for the market.
Sergei, who was born in Luhansk, is also among them. He says that, like his parents, he considers himself Russian. Sergei joined the Russian army about a decade ago, saying that he intended to “defend his homeland.” Now he does not want to return to the front. “I’ve done my part,” he says.
Convicts who chose the army to escape prison
The camp also houses convicted people who joined the Russian army to avoid long prison sentences. Konstantin, 44, says he had been sentenced and decided to join the army instead of serving his time. “For me, 15 years in prison was too much. I would have been 60 by the time I was released,” he says.
But recruits from prisons must remain alive until the end of the war to earn their freedom. Many are sent to assault formations, where the chances of losing their lives are particularly high.
Three people convicted of murder told the BBC that they had believed they would be released after one year of service at the front, but their contracts were automatically extended.
“We all want the war to end”
Sergei refuses to speak when asked about fighting against other Ukrainians, calling it a “provocative” question.
Konstantin answers more openly. He says that no war brings anything good and that the same applies to this conflict. Despite this, he still believes that joining the army was the right decision.
Neither Sergei nor Konstantin expects the war to end soon. They believe Putin will not stop until Russia takes control of the entire Donbas. Konstantin nevertheless acknowledges that the people he knows in the region are tired of the fighting. “I just want this to end as soon as possible,” he says.
Overlooked even in exchange agreements
For Ukraine, prisoners of war are mainly a negotiating instrument for securing the return of Ukrainian soldiers held by Russia.
But on the exchange lists, Ukrainians from Donbas do not appear to be a priority for Moscow. One of the prisoners claims that only around a dozen of them have been exchanged this year. “It seems they do not want to exchange us. I think we will be the last to leave,” he says.
In this camp, where some prisoners build coffins and others prepare Christmas decorations, the fate of these men reflects one of the most complicated aspects of the war in Ukraine: people born in Ukraine, shaped under Russian influence, who are now being held captive by the country of their birth after fighting on the opposing side.
