Pavlo Oliynyk, 25, says he joined enemy forces to escape Russian captivity. Before his capture in the Donbas region in 2024, he was a senior lieutenant for Ukraine’s armed forces.
As a prisoner of war (POW), he says he was electrocuted, beaten, and psychologically tortured. So when he received the offer to join the Maksym Kryvonis battalion — named after a famous 17th-century Cossack commander — he accepted.
Oliynyk says he wanted to use this opportunity to reach the front lines, so he could escape to Ukrainian-controlled territory. DW was able to contact Oliynyk through his lawyer.
