THE cruel monsters behind the agonising skin branding of a Ukrainian prisoner of war have been unmasked as pro-Putin war surgeons.
Andriy Pereverzev revealed the disturbing details of, including the moment he realised he had
A Ukrainian soldier was gruesomely branded with a gruesome while in captivityCredit: East2West
Russian surgeon Andriy Kryachko filmed operating on a wounded Russian soldier in DOKTMO hospital in Donetsk, occupied UkraineCredit: East2West
Identified Russian surgeon, State Duma MP Badma BashankaevCredit: East2West
“I lifted my head just to look at my stomach and there it was ‘Glory to Russia’ burnt into my skin with a medical cautery tool,” he said.
“The surgeon did this to me. I said, ‘you’re all bastards. I’ll shoot every one of you’.”
Now in an explosive investigation, journalists from Radio Svoboda’s Schemes media outlet say they have identified the hospital, staff and Russian surgeons on duty at the time the abuse took place.
It’s now understood the horrors occurred while Andriy was at Donetsk’s main military hospital, known as DOKTMO, in occupied Ukraine.
Two Russian surgeons from Krasnodar, Yuriy Kuznetsov and Andriy Kryachko, posted photos from Donetsk on 24 February 2024 – the same day Andriy was likely scarred with the sick Putin message.
Both are linked to a pro-war doctors’ group called ‘Friends of Donbas Medicine’, who wear Z war symbols and post slogans like ‘Putin’s team’.
The visiting surgeons’ group was founded by another doctor Badma Bashankaev, who – astonishingly – is a sanctioned Russian MP from Putin’s ruling party United Russia.
The day of the branding was the second anniversary of the start of Putin’s illegal war – and was likely made to mark the anniversary, according to Schemes.
“We came to help military surgeons,” one of the accused doctors, Kryachko, said.
When quizzed, Kuznetsov denied the allegations.
“Complete nonsense. Total nonsense. Firstly, on 24 February 2024 neither I nor my Andriy Kryachko were there,” he said.
But his own posts indicate he was there.
Bashankaev has admitted to operating on Ukrainian POWs but there was no proof he was at the hospital at the time.
Kryachko and Bashankaev have declined to comment.
The investigation also uncovered a nurse who said the branding was likely done by a visiting doctor rather than a permanent staff surgeon.
The disturbing photo emerged showing the with the Russian phrase branded sideways onto his right flank in large, uneven letters.
Up the middle of the tortured soldier’s torso was another thick, livid scar ragged by rough stick marks.
He also had a tube fitted into his stomach, and another area of major scarring on his left flank.
In the investigation, several other medics indicated they remembered the inscription branded on Andriy, but denied being responsible.
Ukrainian prosecutors said a war-crimes investigation is under way.
Prosecutor Taras Semkiv said: “This is undoubtedly one of the most brazen crimes committed against prisoners of war.”
Ukrainian surgeon Dr Oleksandr Turkevych, who is leading a team to expunge the slogan, also expressed his horror.
He said: “This was done only because Andriy is a Ukrainian and a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. That is, it is genocide on the basis of nationality and it is a war crime.”
PoW Andriy Pereverzev also endured electric shock tortureCredit: East2West
Andriy undergoing his first procedure to remove the sickening propaganda scarCredit: East2West
The ‘Glory to Russia’ brand has permanently scarred his skinCredit: East2West
Andriy was freed in May 2025 in a mass exchange.
The was captured in February 2024 on the battlefield after being severely wounded.
Despite his pleas to just “end it” and “finish” him off, Pereverzev was carried to an encampment where he was with the sick “Calling Putin” method.
Andriy told how he was mercilessly by Vlad’s troops seeking intelligence.
Following his release, the Ukrainian POW also told how prisoners would often get wired to an old Soviet phone and their bodies surged with electricity.
The sick – dubbed “Calling Putin” — has been known to inflict 80-volt electric shocks into the genitals of captives.
He said: “It’s basically a regular old phone. Two wires are connected to it like clamps, and they can attach them to any part of your body.
“Then they crank the phone handle, lift the receiver, and there is this old Soviet style rotary dial on it.
“The higher the number, you dial from 0 to 9, the stronger the electric current.
“And with each number, the power increases a lot.”
Last year there were reports of “Calling Putin” torture used on suspects in the Crucus City Hall massacre in which 145 died and 551 were wounded.
In this case, Russian interrogators used a TA-57 military telephone attached to the suspect’s genitals.
Old Soviet phones with dials are used for sickening ‘Calling Putin’ electric shock torture on Ukrainian POWs, said freed captive AndriyCredit: East2West
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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