Former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolaienko, released from Russian captivity on Ukraine’s Independence Day, on 24 August, in a 146-for-146 prisoner exchange, gave his first interview to MOST.
Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the right-bank part of Kherson Oblast, including the city of Kherson, in the fall of 2022. Meanwhile, the left-bank area, located on the opposite side of the Dnipro River, remains temporarily occupied by Russian troops.
He recounted his abduction, torture, life in prisons, and how the occupiers tried to make him “governor” instead of Volodymyr Saldo, Russia’s collaborator.
“You can take Saldo’s place”
Mykolaienko was kidnapped in 2022. He was held in Kherson for 16 days before being transferred via Crimea to Voronezh Oblast.
“The main goal was to force me to cooperate. Saldo wasn’t even the ‘governor’ yet. They said, ‘You can take this place,’” he recalled.
FSB officers tried to make him recognize the occupation authorities: “Well, haven’t changed your mind? If not — you’ll go to Sevastopol, reconsider in a month or two, and recognize the new government.” But Mykolaienko refused.
Torture and broken ribs
In detention, he suffered systematic beatings: “Broken ribs. They broke them three times: once on Good Friday, second on Pioneer Day, third when we were ‘settling in’ Pakino.”
“Shockers and batons, boards they beat with — that’s all their prosecutors and lawyers,” he said.
The first days of captivity were the worst: “Three times a day consistently: morning inspection, evening inspection, and during the day either a dog bites or you get beaten in the bath.”
“I fulfilled my family duty”
The occupiers staged a mock execution.
“They lined me up against the wall and said, ‘We’re going to execute you now.’ I said, ‘Go ahead.’ They asked if I was scared. I said, scared, don’t want to die, but I fulfilled my family duty — I have two grandchildren,” said Mykolaienko.
One of the Russians started shooting into the wall but others stopped him.
He and other prisoners lived in complete informational isolation. Only from new prisoners did they learn about Kherson’s liberation.
“I said in the cell: ‘Kherson is Ukrainian.’ Everyone cheered,” he recalled.
Guilt and gratitude
The politician admits he feels discomfort surviving while others remain captive: “You can try to console yourself however you want, but the discomfort is still there. You get exchanged, and the same people remain.”
At the same time, he acknowledges that in Russian captivity, he “didn’t know if I would survive another year there.”