Report “Our husbands must not be forgotten”: the endless wait of the families of Ukrainian soldiers who disappeared after the battle of Mariupol

For almost two years, some families have not heard from their loved ones, members of the Azov regiment which went to Mariupol in May 2022.

At the end of a fierce fight to defend the city of Mariupol, now occupied by Russia, around 1,200 fighters from the Ukrainian Azov regiment surrendered on May 16, 2022. Two months later, some of them They were victims of an attack on their prison, Olenivka prison, near Donetsk, in occupied territory. Strikes attributed to the Russians, leaving 53 dead and 75 injured. Since then, families have been fighting for the return to Ukraine of those who survived.

Among those missing, there is Maria’s partner, Serheï, seriously injured in combat, then during the attack on Olenivka prison. With a sad smile, the 26-year-old young woman has no news from him, apart from 50 short seconds of a video broadcast by Russian propaganda. “My husband was lying in a hospital bed, he looked exhausteddescribes Maria. You could see on his face that he had been injured, perhaps by shrapnel, but in this video he says he was injured in the leg.”

Families left out of negotiations

In one year, while hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners were exchanged, not a single member of the Azov regiment was released. Families feel left out of negotiations, explains Maria. “In the meetings we have with state authorities, we always ask what is being done concretely to bring them back. And we are always told: ‘We are doing everything possible’. We are not given details on the negotiations, we are not told what the problems are.”

Just before the start of the full-scale war, Hanna gave birth to a baby girl. Her husband, Oleh Lobov, 32, is also detained in Russia, probably a victim of torture, according to his wife, but no one knows precisely where he is or what his state of health is.

“Of course it’s depressing because we don’t know what else to do.”

“I can’t say that nothing is happening on the authorities’ side, there are many exchanges of prisoners, she admits. It’s not that I’m angry, it’s just that we don’t understand why the situation with the prisoners of the Azov battalion is blocked, it’s incomprehensible.” laments the mother. “It’s painfulcontinues Hanna, our husbands fought as heroes, they must not be forgotten.”