Espreso. Global

Ukrainian forces capture Belarusian mercenary: What he revealed 

26 January, 2025 Sunday
21:12

Ukrainian soldiers captured a 24-year-old mercenary, Dmitry Ananchik, originally from Belarus. He had gone to work in the temporarily occupied Luhansk but was instead sent to fight as part of the occupying Russian army

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The video with the captured mercenary was posted on the Youtube channel of the “I Want to Live” project.

According to the captured mercenary, he graduated from college with a degree in car repair. In Belarus, he first worked for a logistics company and later in construction.

He arrived in the temporarily occupied Luhansk to work as a tiler's assistant on a construction site, with plans to finish by December 20 and return home. However, he was seized earlier by the police, along with “illegal citizens.”

“They gave me shoes, clothes, and sent me to the training ground,” the man said.

According to him, he was drunk and signed a contract under duress.

“How could I resist? They brought me to a military enlistment office or selection point, made me stand in front of a doctor naked to the waist. The doctors didn’t even examine me... They just wrote that I was in health group A, fit for military service,” the man recalls.

He has been under contract in the Russian army since December 10, 2024, enlisted as a private rifleman. On December 19, Dmitry was sent on his first combat mission, where he was immediately captured.

“My buddy was killed, and I was taken prisoner... The Ukrainian military saw me going to the trench to hide from the drones. They asked me to surrender voluntarily... They said that if there was no resistance, everything would be fine. They said they would exchange me, then take me to a prisoner of war camp where the same guys were being held. And then, they said, Russia will exchange you and you will return to your homeland,” the man said.

He mentioned that he is currently divorced from his wife and has a young son.

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