His makes an attempt to flee the Russian siege failed. He and his fellow Ukrainian marines have been surrounded, tens of kilometers from pleasant traces. They have been virtually out of meals and water. Some panic, others calmly resign themselves to what comes subsequent.
Then, a few day later, Serhiy Hrebinyk, an aged sailor, and his comrades emerged from their remaining delay within the enormous Ilyich steelworks within the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Mariupol. He shortly despatched a message to his older sister: “Howdy Anna. Our brigade is surrendering at present. Me too. I don't know what is going to occur subsequent. I really like you all.”
It was April 12, 2022.
Nearly two years later, on the second anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, Serhiy, now 24, stays imprisoned as a prisoner of struggle, held someplace in Russia. His household is in purgatory, trapped between that day in April and now.
The preliminary flurry of panicked calls and visits to the Crimson Cross, the Ukrainian navy and native officers shortly subsided; The official proof of life took months to return. The struggle dragged on, and now, like hundreds of different Ukrainian households with kinfolk in captivity, the Hrebinyks are ready.
“Life, after all, has modified. Nearly every single day is stuffed with tears,” Svitlana Hrebinyk, Serhiy's mom, stated from her lounge this month.
The expectation is as a lot about Hrebinyks' struggle as it’s from his residence in Trostyanets, a city in northeastern Ukraine. Their modest one-story home is just not removed from the Russian border, the place they often hear the wail of drones or the echo of distant explosions.
They go the times as finest they will till Serhiy comes residence. Svitlana typically goes to church along with her two daughters, Anna and Kateryna. They pray for his return and good well being. Anna and Kateryna get up every single day and scroll via messages on Russian channels in Telegram, hoping that he shall be seen on the sting of a blurred image or in a video. His father, Ihor, controls Fb teams, the place volunteers share updates on Ukrainian prisoners of struggle.
“Typically I feel perhaps this occurred to different individuals,” Svitlana, 48, stated. “After which I ask: “Why Serhiy? Why ought to he be caught?' “The Ukrainian authorities stated 3,574 Ukrainian servicemen have been in captivity as of November.
April 12, 2022, was a phenomenal day within the suburbs of Trostyanets, 260 miles northwest of Mariupol. The solar was up. Winter had lastly retreated, as had the Russian occupiers of the town after the Kremlin's failed makes an attempt to seize Kiev, the capital. Simply two weeks earlier, Trostyanets had been liberated by Ukrainian troops after a short however intense battle that broken the hospital and devastated the prepare station, the place Svitlana had labored for 26 years.
However within the south, Russian forces ended their brutal siege of Mariupol.
“There was a sense that the struggle would quickly be over. After which the message got here. I learn it, and I used to be speechless,” stated Anna this month, sitting subsequent to her mom. “All of us began crying.”
Greater than 1,000 marines from the thirty sixth brigade have been taken prisoner in Mariupol, the Russian Ministry of Protection introduced the subsequent day, April 13. A couple of month later, the Russian siege of the town ended when the final Ukrainian defenders lastly surrendered.
Anna, 27, despatched a message, however her brother was gone, stripped of his belongings as a fighter. His time period as a prisoner of struggle had begun.
“Serhiy, we love you,” he despatched. “All the things shall be positive.”
Nearly two years after Serhiy's seize, the Hrebinyks skilled to endure his absence by constructing a routine, however that was actually not the case in these first few weeks as they frantically looked for him.
The day after Serhiy surrendered, Russian information clips confirmed captured Ukrainian marines from his brigade, their uniforms soiled and raveled. The household scrutinized the footage body by body till they noticed {a partially} obscured face, raised fingers and half-bent arms, a household trait. It was Serhiy, they thought.
“That is him,” Anna remembers him saying. They despatched screenshots of the video and his passport to a nationwide coordination heart as proof. Three months later, the Ukrainian authorities referred to as the Hrebinyks to say that the Russians had confirmed that Serhiy was in captivity.
Serhiy's path to the military was unlikely. In class, he was a median scholar. He performed soccer, wrestled and went fishing – typically with nice designs of a strong catch, solely to return with simply sufficient for the household cat. Serhiy stayed out of bother, principally, stated Olha Vlezko, 51, certainly one of his former lecturers. She spoke warmly of him.
Serhiy smiled loads. In her early teenagers, her face was younger and spherical with welcoming dimples and a mop of brown hair. And he not often spoke to his brothers in regards to the struggle within the east that started in 2014, to not point out the battle in it.
He was mobilized in 2019 for a 12 months of obligatory service that the majority Ukrainian males must do. Then, unbeknownst to his household, he signed a contract with the military six months later. Her hair is shorter, her cheeks sharper and extra pronounced. However in a navy portrait, Serhiy nonetheless appeared like a boy in his uniform as he clutched a Kalashnikov rifle that appeared somewhat too massive.
“I used to be unhappy, after all,” his father, Ihor, 51, sighed, recalling when Serhiy signed the contract. “He was younger then. Why did he go to serve?”
On February 23, 2022, the day earlier than Russia started its full-scale invasion, Serhiy was a tank mechanic within the thirty sixth Marine Brigade and aspired to rise via the ranks. He had frolicked on the entrance traces on the outskirts of Mariupol as Ukrainian troops battled Russian-backed separatists and was used to the sounds of fight. Serhiy, then 22, abruptly appeared a lot older on the eve of a a lot larger struggle.
“Once we referred to as him on February 23, there was no expression on his face,” Anna stated. “We tried to cheer him up, however he didn't present any emotion. He already knew there could be struggle.”
What occurred after Serhiy's seize on April 12, 2022 stays murky, however the Hrebinyks have been capable of piece collectively a tough timeline from social media posts and speaking to Ukrainian troopers who have been launched in prisoner exchanges. These transfers are free more than 3,000 Ukrainians to datehowever they’ve been rare at finest and have been on hiatus for many of 2023. Nevertheless, two exchanges this 12 months have given the household hope that Serhiy may very well be launched sooner moderately than later.
One freed prisoner, a Ukrainian marine who spoke on situation of anonymity to guard these nonetheless in captivity, stated he had been captured alongside Serhiy. The marine's legs have been injured by rifle and mortar fireplace throughout an try to interrupt the siege.
He was Serhiy's pal, he stated, and in his final days of fight, the 22-year-old from Trostyanets shared what little rations he may together with his wounded pal.
“He introduced crackers, cookies and preserves and requested how I used to be feeling,” the sailor stated. “It helped me.” After they surrendered, the 2 have been taken to Olenivka, a jail in Russian-occupied Ukraine, the place they have been thrown into an open barracks room with about 90 different prisoners. They slept on something they might discover. They speak about cigarettes, residence and meals.
They usually waited.
Serhiy was taken in for questioning and returned, solely to be transferred to a different jail. The masked males took him from the cell. “He stated goodbye to me, and that was it,” stated the sailor.
A second Ukrainian prisoner relayed one other story to the Hrebinyks. He had met Serhiy in one other jail, in Kamyshin, a city on the Volga River in western Russia. There, the story goes, many of the prisoners had contracted tuberculosis, widespread in Russian prisons, however Serhiy had prevented the illness. As an alternative, he developed issues backing down from the beatings inflicted by his captors.
The data was helpful, however essentially the most concrete replace got here on February 26, 2023. It was a video posted on Telegram by a Russian volunteer visiting Ukrainian prisoners. In it, Serhiy, who’s wearing a black collared shirt, appears on the digital camera together with his fingers on each legs. His head is shaved and he appears involved, as if he’s anxious about forgetting the script he’s about to recite.
“Howdy mom, father, sister, sister. All the things is okay with me. I’m in Russian captivity. They don’t beat me, they deal with us usually. I’ve nothing in opposition to the Russian Federation. We’re fed 3 times a day. I’ve sufficient. Good parts. I hope to return residence quickly. And every part shall be positive with us,” he says earlier than the video cuts out.
That was the final time the Hrebinyks noticed him, and time has handed since his seize. Anna had a toddler and acquired married. His grandparents are useless. Svitlana returned to working occasional nights on the prepare station, and Simba, a grey cat, joined the household.
“We haven't seen him in a very long time, so this video helps us somewhat,” stated Anna, who generally watches it earlier than going to mattress. “On daily basis we wait, and generally we think about what it could be like when he walks via that door.”
Daria Mitiuk and Natalia Yermak contributed report.
