‘Russians invaded my house and detained a Ukrainian soldier there’

Marina Perederii’s home in the small mining city of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine is her pride and joy.

Number 17 Sadovaya Street was just a shell when she and her husband bought it.

They lovingly renovated the house, painting cherry blossoms and doves – symbols of love and happiness – in their bedroom. They built a swimming pool in the garden and a sauna in the basement.

“Everything was planned with great passion,” she told BBC World Service. But the peace did not last.

In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Marina’s husband went to fight while she took their child and ran. Before fleeing, she recorded what she thought might be the last view of their home.

“Dear family, I don’t know if you can bear it or not. I don’t know if we will come back here… or even if we will survive,” she said in a video.

The next time she saw her house was a year later, in February 2023, through the eyes of a Russian soldier, in body cam footage posted on social media.

A marine named Fima is in her living room, scrolling through photos of Marina and her family. “So beautiful,” he said, looking at a photo.

It was a cold image that made her angry. “I wish I had brought these albums,” Marina said.

Ukraine spent two and a half years defending Vuhledar before Russia took control of the city in early October.

During the long battle, at the end of January 2023, Fima led a group of soldiers to the suburbs and became involved in fierce fighting on Sadovaya Street. He and some other people entered Marina’s house.

When his bodycam footage went viral in his home country, Fima was hailed as a hero. Official documents show that he was recalled to the front in February 2023 because of a leg wound.

But what the footage doesn’t show is that the Russians are holding a Ukrainian soldier in Marina’s basement, who is starving and in desperate need of medical attention. His name is Oleksii.

Before the war, Oleksii worked as an IT specialist. When Russia invaded his country, he volunteered to fight and later became a drone operator in Vuhledar. His love of dancing earned him the nickname Dancer.

When Russian troops broke through Ukrainian lines in late January 2023, Oleksii and his comrades tried to retreat, but several of them, including Oleksii, were shot.

Wounded, they were taken from house to house by Russian soldiers, and finally Oleksii was taken to Marina’s basement.

He was detained for nearly a month – Russian footage uploaded online showed him wrapped in one of Marina’s rugs.

When the Russians finally retreated, they left Oleksii behind. In total he spent 46 days in Marina’s house and for most of that time he had little to no food or water.

Injured, hungry and dehydrated, he was unable to leave the building.

“I found some debris on the floor,” he told BBC World Service from Kyiv.

“There was a piece of biscuit that a mouse stole from me at night. I hid it, and the mouse probably stole it because I couldn’t find it.”

But hunger is nothing compared to thirst. One day, after the Russians left, the urgent need for water almost killed Oleksii.

He tore off the boards of the sauna in the hope that there might be water inside the pipes. He tried to open one and drink some of the liquid inside, but it was antifreeze. Just those few sips caused internal burns and was nearly fatal.

Then, in March of that year, when Ukrainian forces recaptured parts of Vuhledar and reached Sadovaya Street, another video of Marina’s home went viral. It shows former New Zealand soldier Kane Te Tai entering number 17 and finding Oleksii.

“New Zealand, New Zealand, it’s me!” Oleksii shouted at his colleague, who went to fight for Ukraine. Ji Tai died in battle just two weeks later.

Oleksii was taken out of the house and to safety.

If he had been left behind for just a few more days, Oleksii said he wouldn’t have made it.

Several other Ukrainian and Russian soldiers are believed to have died in and around Sadovaya Street during the battle for Vuhledar.

“Thank God Oleksii survived. But the fact that someone died in the house shocked me,” she said. “There is only death there.”

BBC World Service asked the Russian Ministry of Defense about Oleksii’s treatment but received no response.

Half a year after Oleksii’s rescue, his Russian captor was praised at home. He is no longer called by the symbol Fima but by his first name, Andrei. State television footage showed him reenacting the attack on Vuhledar and sharing his experiences with primary school students, where teachers regarded him as a hero.

The BBC compared this footage with photos of Andrei from hundreds of social media profiles and found a match – same hairline, same mole on his neck and clear evidence of an injury to his neck. foot.

His full name is Andrei Efimkin – 28 years old, born in the Far East region of Russia.

We contacted him and asked about the video from Sadovaya Street, especially the part where he looks through photos of Marina’s family. He told us he was playing a “psychological trick” on himself due to the incoming gunfire.

“I grabbed the album and started looking at the photos to distract myself,” he said.

“You know, actually, I feel very cold-blooded. Honestly, for a second, these thoughts ran through my mind – about the people who live here.”

But when asked directly about Marina, Efimkin said he did not want to answer any more questions and ended the call.

Marina is currently in Germany. As time passes, she is trying to build a new life, learning a new language and finding work here and there – but she still grieves about her lost home in Vuhledar.

“It was difficult. I can still see my house in my dreams, it’s always in my head. I still hope Ukraine will win and everything will be fine, we will come back,” she said.

“My land is there, the air is mine.”

But when she returned to Sadovaya Street, there was almost nothing left of her beloved home, the house was once again nothing more than a shell.

It is recognizable in drone footage shot from the air by a blue spot where her swimming pool used to be, standing out against a background of gray rubble.