His comrades died in their very first battle, and he was taken prisoner. Chinese national Wang Wu, known as Sabre, says he, like many other foreigners, was recruited under false pretenses, promised rear-line duties.

But after a brief training period, they were immediately thrown into frontline combat, including in a suicidal assault near Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast. 

A new report by I Want to Live, the Ukrainian state project, has exposed what happens to foreign recruits in the Russian army after signing contracts with Russia’s Ministry of Defense.

“I truly understand that we were deceived… I believe signing that contract was a shameful decision. I’m certain other Chinese citizens should know they are being lied to,” says the captured soldier.

According to the project’s representatives, most of the new recruits shown in videos from Russia’s 102nd Regiment are now either dead or severely wounded. Among the dead is Wang Wu’s friend, Yan Jingsheng, whose death he witnessed firsthand.

The project has stressed that foreigners in the Russian army are treated as nothing more than cannon fodder.

“If they don’t spare their own, why would they make exceptions for Asians or Africans?” the statement reads.

On 8 April, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that Ukraine captured two Chinese citizens who were fighting alongside Russian troops in the Donetsk Oblast. The operatives obtained their documents, bank cards, and personal data. An investigation and additional measures are ongoing. 

One of them paid $3,482 to join the Russian military through a Chinese intermediary. He explained that his main motivation was to obtain Russian citizenship through military service. He underwent basic training in occupied Luhansk alongside other Chinese citizens, with instruction conducted without formal translation.

Ukraine has carried out another stage of the large-scale prisoner exchange in accordance with the Istanbul agreements. Defenders who have returned to their homeland are those under the age of 25, as well as wounded and seriously ill soldiers who had spent years in Russian captivity, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reports. 

Among those freed are soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including personnel from the Navy, Ground Forces, Air Assault Forces, Territorial Defense Forces, National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service.

“The youngest defender is 24 years old. He was captured during the defense of Mariupol in April 2022, at the age of 21,” say Ukrainian authorities. 

Many of those returned had been taken prisoner during the fierce battles for Mariupol. One of the freed is a National Guardsman who was guarding the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

“The oldest defender returned to Ukraine is 62 years old,” the Coordination HQ writes. 

Some of the soldiers are officers. They defended Ukraine on the hottest frontlines: Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Kherson, Kyiv, and Sumy directions.

“The defenders released from captivity will undergo the necessary medical examination, receive support for physical and psychological rehabilitation, as well as all due payments for the entire period of their imprisonment,” reveals the agency. 

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War is already preparing the next exchange. 

Photos showing the stark physical transformation of a Ukrainian soldier after three years in Russian captivity have been circulating online, documenting the inhumane conditions faced by Ukrainian prisoners of war.

The comparative images of Oleksandr Strafun, a reserve officer who defended Mariupol, were published by volunteer Olena Zolotariova from the NGO “Power of People.” The photos show Oleksandr with his wife Olena before and after his captivity period. Both of them consented to have their photos appear online. This is how Russia’s full-scale aggression that began in February 2022 changed their lives forever. 

Oleksandr and Olena had lived for each other before the full-scale war. Though he had not participated in the fighting in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and worked at the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, he felt compelled to serve when Russia invaded explicitly.

On 21 February 2022, Oleksandr contacted military recruitment offices to offer assistance. “He always knew that if something suddenly started, he had no right to stay home,” Olena recalled, according to her interview with 0629 news outlet about Mariupol. When he suggested she evacuate, she refused, citing her two cats and the need to help his parents.

Oleksandr enlisted in territorial defense forces on 25 February, finding the recruitment office nearly empty except for a guard directing volunteers to territorial defense units. The following morning, 26 February, he called from territorial defense headquarters with news that would define their separation:

“He said he wouldn’t return home anymore. I asked, when should I expect you? And he answered: ‘I’ll return after victory.'”

Their final direct communication occurred on 1 March 2022, when Oleksandr requested personal items including soap and socks. Olena was unable to deliver these supplies before contact ceased entirely.

During the siege, Olena remained in blockaded Mariupol despite knowing about the garrison’s order to surrender and the final stand of Ukrainian soldiers at Azovstal. She suspected Oleksandr might not answer calls from unfamiliar numbers, while her own phone had been stolen by Kadyrov forces.

After reaching safety, Olena connected with families of other prisoners through support networks. Through these contacts, she learned Oleksandr had been seen at the notorious Olenivka detention facility in occupied Donetsk Oblast and managed to pass along her new phone number through another prisoner’s wife.

On the night of 29 July 2022, an explosion struck a barracks at the Olenivka prison colony, killing about 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs), mostly defenders of Mariupol including members of the Azov Regiment, and injuring over 70 others.

Both Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the attack: Russia claimed Ukraine used a HIMARS missile to strike the prison, while Ukraine accused Russian forces of deliberately shelling the facility to cover up torture and executions of POWs.

The day before the documented attack, Oleksandr called Olena and described unusual activity at the facility.

“He said something strange was happening in the colony, some constant movements. Some people were being taken away, others relocated. He thought, maybe this is already an exchange?” Olena recounted.

She went to sleep hopeful but woke up to the news of the explosion and casualties, not knowing if her husband remained alive. Oleksandr survived because he had been transferred to another facility prior to the incident.

He managed to call her, promising an exchange was coming and telling her to wait. That conversation marked the beginning of an extended silence lasting for years.

In 2025, Oleksandr was returned home to Ukraine in one of the prisoner exchanges that resulted from Istanbul peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations, that, however, failed to reach a ceasefire agreement.

All released soldiers undergo rehabilitation, including urgent medical care and psychological support. Ukrainian authorities also provide financial compensation for their time in captivity, as part of the reintegration process after often prolonged and brutal detention in Russia.

An American English teacher Stephen Hubbard, captured by Russian forces in 2022, has been located in Russia’s Mordovia penal colony after months without family contact, with former fellow prisoners reporting he endured systematic abuse because of his nationality. 

Stephen James Hubbard, now 73 and a native of Michigan, is being held in the IK-12 penal colony in Mordovia, a southwestern Russian Oblast known for its extensive prison system, according to the New York Times.

He is the only American remaining in Russia who has been designated by the US State Department as “wrongfully detained,” indicating that the United States considers the charges against him to be fabricated.

Russian authorities captured Hubbard in April 2022 from the eastern Ukrainian city of Izium in Kharkiv Oblast, where he had been living since 2012 after meeting a Ukrainian woman named Inna. He had retired to Cyprus that year and moved to Ukraine to be with her, earning income by teaching English online to Japanese students. When the relationship ended Stephen continued living in Ukraine.

According to Russian court documents reviewed by the Times, authorities accused Hubbard of joining Ukraine’s territorial defense forces the day after Russia’s full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022. The documents claim he signed up at a recruitment center in a kindergarten, seeking to earn at least $1,000 monthly, and was given the call signs “Samurai” and “Ninja” while manning a checkpoint on a bridge.

However, text messages between Hubbard and his son Hisashi Tanaka contradict this narrative. The communications show no evidence of military involvement. Instead, Hubbard sent daily updates describing civilian life during the invasion, including taking shelter in a church and continuing to teach English lessons when possible.

His final message, sent through a friend’s phone after Russians seized Izium, stated: “I am well, waiting for the war to end.”

Earlier, his sister Patricia Fox told Reuters that Hubbard was “so non-military” and “more of a pacifist.” She said he “never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that” and was unlikely to take up arms at his age. Fox also noted that her brother held pro-Russian views, making the mercenary accusations even more implausible.

Russian authorities convicted Hubbard of being a mercenary in October and sentenced him to nearly seven years in prison. Following his conviction, his case file was removed from public view in an unusual move by the Russian judge.

Ukrainian prisoners of war who were held with Hubbard told the Times that he was repeatedly tortured because of his American citizenship. They reported that he was beaten, forced to stand all day, given inadequate food, and denied proper medical care. The released Ukrainian prisoners said they feared for his life.

Hubbard’s family lost contact with him after his conviction until recent weeks, when he was able to call one of his sons. His lawyer, Martin De Luca, said his team has spoken with Hubbard three times since April.

“He’s had a rough three and a half years,” De Luca said.

American officials have raised Hubbard’s imprisonment with Russian counterparts and demanded his immediate release. The United States Embassy in Moscow has not been granted access to Hubbard despite Russia’s obligations under international law.

In a 19 May phone call, President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a potential prisoner exchange involving nine people from each side. Given Hubbard’s wrongful detention designation, he would likely be a top candidate in any such exchange.

Germany releases Russian hitman, enabling largest post-Cold War prisoner exchange