Ukrainian Soldier Uses Art Therapy for PTSD as He Recovers From Russian War Prison

A Ukrainian soldier who was held captive and tortured for months after being captured as a Russian prisoner of war has turned to a special therapy to work through his post-traumatic stress. 

The soldier, who wanted to remain anonymous, was part of the battalion that surrendered to the Russian army at a factory in Mariupol.

“It’s very scary. You don’t know what you get. It’s a two- or three-meters cell,” he said of the conditions in which he lived.

The man said he tortured for seven months before being freed.

He is currently working through his trauma at a psychiatric facility in Lviv, where he is participating in art therapy.

His pictures are just a dark glimpse into his experiences and while he made it out, others didn’t.

“I don’t know how many people died. Four?” he said. “It was dirty. I want my friends to come home, like they promised.”

For now, he is working to put his life back together, while he hopes to see his friends again one day.

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