LUHANSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd January, 2020) Ukrainian volunteer Aidar Battalion, notorious for being made up of Ukrainian nationalists, used cruel enhanced interrogation techniques on captured soldiers in Donbas, Evgeny Shatalov, a Russian volunteer brought back in a recent prisoner exchange, told journalists on Wednesday.
On December 29, the first prisoner exchange in two years between Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics of Donbas took place. Among the exchanged people were also Russian volunteers like Shatalov.
"I was hit in the head, lost conciseness, woke up already in a basement. As it became clear later, I ended up in a basement where Aidar Battalion was stationed ... They were drowning [me] in a basin, shooting under the feet, kicking in the kidneys and ribs, leaving me for a while before resuming the whole ordeal," he said.
According to him, he was tortured by Aidar soldiers under the personal supervision of Maxim Marchenko, the battalion's former commander.
"It all lasted for seven days. And psychological pressure was inflicted constantly. The scariest thing was the understanding that you are captured," the volunteer added.
He mentioned that officers of the Ukrainian Security Service also took part in his interrogation.
In 2014, Kiev launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk after they declared independence from Ukraine and refused to recognize its new government at the time.
Aidar is one of many volunteer battalions to fight on the front lines of that conflict.
