Journalist Dmytro Khylyuk returns from Russian captivity: a story of captivity and release

On August 24, UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khylyuk, who had been held as a civilian hostage since March 2022, returned from Russian captivity to Ukraine as part of an exchange. For three years, he saw only the painted-over windows of his cell, a piece of sky from an open window for ventilation, and asphalt in Russian captivity. No one received letters in the detention center.

Dmytro Khylyuk said this in a comment to the media, which was recorded by journalist Stas Kozlyuk for the Institute of Mass Information.

According to him, the most difficult thing was the feeling of a “vacuum” – complete isolation from any information.

“A complete information vacuum, absolutely complete. And the biggest concern, of course, was not about myself, but about finding my parents alive. Fortunately, they are alive, and I talked to them. I know that everything is fine and the mountain is off my shoulders,” said Dmytro.

When asked whether he knew about the liberation of Kherson, the journalist denied it, adding that while in captivity he didn’t even know what time it was.

“What Kherson is, it’s a total lack of any information. We didn’t even know what time it was. For the first time in three and a half years, I saw a clock on a bus in Belarus, from the airport they were taking us to Ukraine to the border. We only saw the painted-over windows of the cell there, a piece of sky from the window that was open for ventilation, we only saw asphalt, because we only walked bent down. We don’t see green grass in the literal sense of the word, we don’t see birds, the only thing we saw was crows on the observation towers over the years,” the journalist recalls.

According to him, to navigate the dates, they kept their own calendar in the cell, remembering the dates, remembering the birthdays of loved ones in the cells, their own. “It’s very scary, it’s not only an information vacuum, but a vacuum of everything,” Khylyuk added.

He admitted that the rare “exception” was when the guards reported basic things, such as the date of Easter. The only humanity he saw in the entire time was from one staff member.

“We just sat there and did nothing – we sat in prison for days. We begged to be given some boxes to glue, at least something. We begged to be given some boxes to glue, at least something. They told us that we couldn’t,” the journalist recalls.

He added that there were moments of despair when the prisoners thought that no one needed them. However, supporting each other helped them not to break down.

After his release, Dmytro dreams first of all of hugging and kissing his parents. His father was also in Russian captivity, but had returned to Ukrainian soil earlier. The journalist also said that he plans to return to his job.

What is known about the capture of Dmytro Khylyuk?

UNIAN news agency journalist Dmytro Khylyuk was abducted by Russian servicemen in the village of Kozarovychi, Vyshhorod district, Kyiv region, approximately on March 4, 2022.

On March 1, Dmytro Khylyuk wrote on his Facebook page that the village where he lives is under occupation, and the settlements on the left bank of the Irpin River are cut off from the capital. The journalist added that the internet is very weak.

In the end, there was no news from the journalist for several days. Friends learned from neighbors that Dmytro Khlyuk had been detained by people in Russian military uniform. They took him to an unknown destination.

The journalist’s colleagues initially attributed the long absence of contact to poor communication. However, later the journalistic community learned about the detention of Khlyvnyuk by the Russian military, who was taken to the village of Dymer, Vyshhorod district, Kyiv region.

“According to released local residents of the neighboring village of Kozarovychi, Dmytro is currently being held in the building of one of the enterprises in Dymer. It was there that several already released men saw him. He is being held, like the others, with his hands tied with tape and blindfolded,” the organization “Media Initiative for Human Rights” reported .

It is noted that the probable reason for the detention may be the suspicion that local residents, especially journalists, may have communicated with Ukrainian military and law enforcement agencies.

Initially, the journalist was held in the occupied territory of Dymer. From there, he was transported to Novozybkivsk prison in the Bryansk region of Russia. Later, to Mordovia, and then to colony No. 7 in Pakino, Vladimir region. This prison is a place where people are broken. There, they are beaten, starved, and forced to stand in the cold. Dmitry weighed only 45 kilograms.

In captivity, Dmytro experienced everything: hunger, beatings, psychological pressure. The occupiers forced him to watch propaganda, threatened him. But he did not break. In June 2024, the released soldier reported: Dmytro is alive, he is holding on.

This was told to the international organization Reporters Without Borders by Igor, a soldier released from Russian captivity, who spent a year in the same cell with Dmitry in the Vladimir region of Russia.

“When I returned to Ukraine, I saw his photo and I can say that he looks completely different than before,” said the former prisoner of war.

He considers Dmitry his friend, because together with him he “survived a year of hell” in the same cell No. 8 in the IK-7 correctional colony in Pakino, located in the Vladimir region.

Igor also spoke about the abuse of the Russians. According to him, there are about fifteen Ukrainians in this cell, both civilians and military. He recalled that in the middle of winter, at minus ten degrees, he and his comrades were forced to walk around the prison yard completely naked. Quite often, during inspections, prison guards or security service (FSB) officers have fun by setting dogs on the prisoners. The latter are regularly forced to sing the Russian anthem or deprived of food.

And so, on August 24, 2025, what everyone was waiting for happened. As part of the 68th prisoner exchange (146 for 146) , Dmytro Khylyuk returned from captivity . It was a special day – Independence Day of Ukraine. Together with him, the former mayor of Kherson Volodymyr Mykolaenko, journalist Mark Kaliush, and medic Serhiy Kovalev from the “Hospitaliers” were released.

As reported by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the exchange of prisoners of war took place within the framework of the agreements reached during the negotiations in Istanbul.

Among the released fighters are also representatives of the Airborne Assault Forces, Air Force and Navy, as well as soldiers of the Territorial Defense, National Guard and State Border Service. They fought in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Sumy directions and defended Mariupol and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.