Russians sell Ukrainian POWs to Chechen paramilitary groups

Chechen paramilitary groups are actively buying captured Ukrainians from other Russian military formations.

The Times reported on this.

Petro Yatsenko, a spokesman of the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, confirmed that Chechen paramilitary groups were buying up Ukrainian prisoners of war.

“There have been cases when they bought our wounded from the Russian military, took them to [the Chechen capital of] Grozny, and then exchanged them for their own,” he said.

Buyout for exchange

Chechen ethnic paramilitary groups actively participated in fierce fighting in the first months of the war, and many of their soldiers were captured. Therefore, they are trying to get their fighters back.

However, due to the lack of their own “exchange fund” due to the constant presence of ethnic units in the rear, their leaders seem to have decided to buy POWs for exchange from other Russian units.

One of these people was 41-year-old Viacheslav Levytskyi. He was taken prisoner of war by the militants of the so-called “DPR” in February 2023 and later sold to the Chechens.

He had been shot in both legs and abdomen during a night raid on his position in the woods north of Avdiyivka. When he regained consciousness, he spent several days crawling across the frozen ground, searching for his unit.

He eventually arrived at a Ukrainian position but discovered that the enemy had seized it. According to him, the Russian invaders did not provide him with any medical care. They beat him with a spade, hoping to force him to reveal the wavelength used by Ukrainian radio operators.

However, two days later, he was taken to the Chechens a few kilometers from the front and told he was going to Grozny.

As soon as Viacheslav arrived in the Chechen capital, he was taken to the hospital, where both legs and both hands were amputated because they were frostbitten.

After recovering in the hospital, Viacheslav was taken to the basement, where he was kept together with 60 other Ukrainian prisoners of war who were being prepared for an exchange for five Chechens. In June 2023, he returned home during the exchange along with 39 other Ukrainians.