Veres sports director Vyacheslav Shevchuk spoke about his brother, who was captured at the end of May along with other Azovstal defenders - he was released on December 31.
Vyacheslav Shevchuk— The war found my brother in Mariupol. He, along with his battalion of border guards and Azov fighters, defended the city. Subsequently, they were relocated to Azovstal. Sergei was one of the last to surrender, because the command to pull back the enemy troops was executed and it no longer made sense to defend against superior enemy forces.
- Did you communicate with your brother when he was in captivity?
- No, the Russians did not give him the opportunity to speak on the phone. I learned about his condition and where he was from the border guards who were released from captivity. At first, he was in the prisoner-of-war colony in Olenovka, exactly when it was shelled. Thank God he survived. The last place of its deployment was the Volgograd region. I learned about his release on December 31, when I saw Sergei in the photo among the other dismissed people.
- Have you already talked to him?
— Yes, we are constantly in touch. Sergei has a large family, he is the father of four children. We were all very worried about him. Now he is in the hospital. I will be fully involved in his treatment. The brother is waiting for a long stage of recovery, because his body is badly damaged. Sergei in captivity lost 30 kilograms, within six months he had broken ribs, damaged internal organs, and had problems with his teeth. It feels like he returned from a concentration camp.
