This is how Putin’s soldiers captured at the front live: “Most do not recognize themselves as war criminals”

In western Ukraine, in the border city of Lviv is the main prison camp where some of the men that Putin sent to invade his neighboring country more than a year ago are now.

The protocol is the same for everyone. Upon arrival they are given a medical check-up and provided with a blue jumpsuit. His day begins at six in the morning and the lights go out at ten at night.

During the day, the prisoners can do crafts or different jobs for which they obtain a small amount of money. Also They are offered the possibility of calling their relatives once a month.

The imprisoned fighters come from different parts of Russia, but there are also some from some of the Ukrainian cities in Donbas, such as Donestk or Lugansk, under Russian occupation since 2014.

The harshness of the war has left its mark on most of these prisoners. Many of them tell us that they do not want to return to the front. This is the case of a 38-year-old fighter from Moscow: “I don’t know if I want to participate in the war and I don’t know how Russia will react.”

The same feeling is felt by another captured young man, only 20 years old, whom the Kremlin gave him the chance to avoid a conviction for robbery in exchange for going to the front: “I have lost my hand, better to have been in another prison”.

Some admit off camera that they were following orders under the idea of ​​having to free Ukraine from the alleged Nazis. However, other prisoners remain convinced that the Russian invasion was justified: “Ukrainians do not want to talk about the Donbas issue, Ukraine killed 300 children in Donetsk,” they say.

For the Ukrainian authorities these speeches are the result of many years of fierce propaganda among Russian society. One of the prison camp officials confirms this: “Most of them don’t recognize themselves as war criminals, and it’s a shame… only a very small percentage are aware of what they are doing.”

The future of these prisoners is up in the air. They hope to be exchanged as soon as possibleAlthough they also do not know what awaits them if they return to Russia.