Oleksii Halevych

Oleksii Halevych

Date of disappearance: April 2, 2022

Place of disappearance: Donetsk region

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Oleksii Halevych lived in the Donetsk region with his wife and son. The 36-year-old worked as a railroad cargo guard.

Russia occupied his hometown on February 26, 2022 – two days after it started a full-scale war. Oleksii and his family wanted to leave the occupied territory immediately, but they did not dare to leave because they had no information about safe evacuation routes.

The man had experience of conscript service in the army from 2019 to 2020. After that, he had nothing to do with the military. On April 2, 2022, the Russians began abducting people who had once served. They came to Oleksii as well. They took him to a local school, interrogated him, and then taped his hands, put a bag over his head, and took him to Novoazovsk, another occupied city in the Donetsk region. According to Oleksii’s sister Halyna, 50 civilians were abducted in the village.

For about a month, the family knew nothing about Oleksii’s fate. Eventually, through relatives of other prisoners, they learned that Halevych could be in colony No. 120 in Olenivka near Donetsk. The prisoner’s parents, who also remained in the occupation, went to Olenivka and gave their son parcels. But a week later, they were told that Oleksii had been taken away. As they found out later, he was taken to the Donetsk detention center.

A few months later, Halevych was transferred to the Kalinin colony in Horlivka, Donetsk region. During his time in captivity, his parents received several letters from him. They learned that civilian hostages, including their son, were being held separately from military personnel in Horlivka. Every morning, the prisoners sing the Russian anthem. The colony is in an awful situation with drinking water, which is taken from a pond and causes digestive problems.