“I still don’t believe it, I’ve been waiting for it for so long”, still surprised, Tuesday, July 12, Oleg Buriak, a few days after the release of his son. Vladislav, 16, spent three months in the hands of the Russians, because he is the son of a head of the local administration of the region of Zaporijia, in the south-east of Ukraine.
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Of his 90 days in captivity, Vladislav spent 48 locked in a two-by-two meter cell. His only daily outing lasted about ten minutes, the rest of the time was dedicated to the tasks entrusted to him. “I had to clean the offices, take out the trash, help in the kitchen. But above all, I had to wash and clean the torture room”he recalls.
Canned meals and sleepless nights punctuated Vladislav’s days. “It was very difficult to sleep. I wanted to watch, in case a soldier suddenly entered my cell. And when I managed to fall asleep, I was awakened by the cries of people who were being tortured. “
“In these kinds of moments, your enemies are your emotions. You have to be able to contain yourself and control yourself.”
These 48 days, he spends them without contact, or almost, with his relatives. “I could call every 8-10 days, for 2-3 minutes, on the loudspeaker. A Russian soldier was next to me, he watched what I was saying.” It was mainly to his father that he spoke. “He gave me the strength to want to come out safe and sound from this captivity.”
At the end of May, Vladislav is transferred to Melitopol, in a kind of hotel. He is in better conditions, but remains locked up. He will spend his last 42 days there. “I had a room and a telephone that I could use 24 hours a day. But I couldn’t communicate with everyone, nor write on the subjects that I wanted.”
Vladislav was arrested on April 8 at a checkpoint as he fled Melitopol, his Russian-occupied town. He was 37 kilometers from his father’s house, which he was trying to reach. “I was in the back of a car when a Russian soldier asked me what I was doing on my phone, if I was filming himhe says. He took me out, searched me and pointed his battle rifle at me. He was threatening me: ‘I’ll shoot you right away or I’ll crush your phone’.” He was immediately taken to a detention center.
A few days after his arrest, his father, Oleg, chose to publicize this captivity: “I didn’t want my son to be forgotten, it was taking the risk of having him killed.” He was then interviewed in several local newspapers and wrote several posts on social networks.
Today, Vladislav and Oleg are still struggling to realize that it’s all over. “Now I feel good. It’s behind me!”concludes the young Ukrainian.