Oleksandr Shulha

Oleksandr Shulha

Date of disappearance: November 14, 2022

Place of disappearance: Novotroitske village, Kherson region

Oleksandr Shulha was studying remotely at the Kherson Industrial Institute while working as a laborer. He lived in the village of Bilozerka in the Kherson region. During the first months of the full-scale war, his girlfriend was distributing Russian social aid to Ukrainians there. Because of this, she feared that the Ukrainian authorities would consider her a collaborator. The day after the de-occupation, she and Oleksandr Shulha left for the occupied village of Novotroitske in the Henichesk district.

Two days after their move, Russian forces came for them. They did not touch the girl, but they took Sasha away.

Until December, his mother did not even know what had happened to her son. The girl assured her that he was in a remote village without communication. However, later, the mother of Shulha’s friend—who had been arrested along with him—reached out. She revealed what had happened: the boys were allegedly arrested “for opposing the special military operation (SVO).”

Oleksandr was held in Henichesk, then transferred to Crimea, and later to the Russian city of Kamyshin in the Volgograd region.

“I spoke with a young man, Vasyl. In Kamyshin, he was in the same cell as my son. He told me that Sasha is alive and receiving treatment, but he doesn’t know for what. Sasha had been suffering from back pain lately because he had been doing heavy labor, carrying sacks. Besides that, he has allergies—his nose is constantly blocked. Maybe it’s the air, the humidity, or the dust,” says his mother, Rozaliya Shulha.

The young man remains in Detention Center No. 2 in Kamyshin, Volgograd region, to this day.

This publication was compiled with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. It’s content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Renaissance Foundation.