A Ukrainian soldier recounts how he was taken captive and tortured by the Russians; also how he sought refuge in a monastery and struggled after liberation.
IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) The first time the Russian soldiers caught him, they tossed him bound and blindfolded into a trench covered with wooden boards for days on end. Then they beat him, over and over: Legs, arms, a hammer to the knees, all accompanied by furious diatribes against Ukraine. Before they let him go, they took away his passport and Ukrainian military ID all he had to prove his existence and made sure he knew exactly how worthless his life was.