Published on 19 May 2016
During
the course of the war in eastern Ukraine, hundreds of Ukrainian
soldiers have been either captured as POWs or gone missing during the
fighting.
During the battle of Ilovaisk in August 2014, Ukrainian soldiers became encircled by Russian regular soldiers and separatist fighters. After intense negotiations the Ukrainians eventually managed to secure safe passage to leave the town. However, that never happened. As the Ukrainians fled the town in their vehicles they were ambushed and slaughtered. It's thought up to a thousand soldiers were killed and hundreds more were captured.
Many of these POWs were released over the course of the following week, however some were summarily executed and others still remain missing.
Families of the missing soldiers have had to endure a torturous and bureaucratic process to find their sons, passed from one ministry to another, with some families having to travel to rebel territory themselves to search for them. VICE News spoke with a British journalist, Lily Hyde, who has been documenting the efforts of families struggling to find their sons and with one mother who continues to wait for her son to return home, 18 months after he went missing.
Watch “Shell-Shocked: Ukraine’s Trauma” - http://bit.ly/1XiydJd
Watch "Ukraine's Foreign Fighters Battle for Citizenship” - http://bit.ly/250SntK
Read "When War Becomes Routine: A Week with Ukraine’s Weary-Eyed Soldiers” - http://bit.ly/1suwaqi
During the battle of Ilovaisk in August 2014, Ukrainian soldiers became encircled by Russian regular soldiers and separatist fighters. After intense negotiations the Ukrainians eventually managed to secure safe passage to leave the town. However, that never happened. As the Ukrainians fled the town in their vehicles they were ambushed and slaughtered. It's thought up to a thousand soldiers were killed and hundreds more were captured.
Many of these POWs were released over the course of the following week, however some were summarily executed and others still remain missing.
Families of the missing soldiers have had to endure a torturous and bureaucratic process to find their sons, passed from one ministry to another, with some families having to travel to rebel territory themselves to search for them. VICE News spoke with a British journalist, Lily Hyde, who has been documenting the efforts of families struggling to find their sons and with one mother who continues to wait for her son to return home, 18 months after he went missing.
Watch “Shell-Shocked: Ukraine’s Trauma” - http://bit.ly/1XiydJd
Watch "Ukraine's Foreign Fighters Battle for Citizenship” - http://bit.ly/250SntK
Read "When War Becomes Routine: A Week with Ukraine’s Weary-Eyed Soldiers” - http://bit.ly/1suwaqi
