Oleksandr Yahodynskyi

Chief sawmill operator. Khocheva, Kyiv region

On March 26, 2022, 30-year-old Oleksandr Yahodynskyi and his younger brother Vladyslav were detained by the Russian military at a checkpoint in Khocheva in the Kyiv region. Threatening them with weapons, Russian soldiers pushed the brothers into an armored personnel carrier, which was heading to Chernobyl. The Russian military put black garbage bags over the brothers’ heads, tied their hands behind their backs, and beat them. After some time, the boys were taken to the outpost of the Border Guard Service of the Republic of Belarus in Narovlya, where they were handed over to unknown persons. Later, Vladyslav was taken to an orphanage. After a month of wandering in Belarus, with the assistance of representatives of the Red Cross and volunteers, Vladyslav was able to return home. Oleksandr’s exact whereabouts are unknown, but he is probably in Russia, in one of the correctional institutions of the Bryansk region.