The Chechnya military buys captured Ukrainian servicemen from Russian units to exchange them for their colleagues. Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Ukrainian coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war, told The Times (excerpts from the article by Radio Liberty's Kavkaz.Realiyi project).
One of these prisoners, Vyacheslav, said he was captured by Russia in February 2023 after being wounded in Avdiyivka. The Russians did not provide him with medical care and handed him over to a Chechnya unit a few days later.
Levytskyy was sent to Groznyy and hospitalised. Due to the lack of treatment, the man had both his legs and arms amputated. After his condition was stabilised, the Ukrainian was sent to the basement, where he was held with 60 other prisoners. Levytskyy says that in June, some of them were exchanged for Kadyrov's men.
The exact number of Ukrainian prisoners taken to Chechnya is unknown.