I met with Captain Maryna Serhiienkova, a 30-year old combat medic who spent half a year in Russian captivity, on a Sunday evening. Even though we were on Zoom I could see she was still at work.
“I am at a military hospital in Kyiv. My duties are not related to combat operations, but I feel needed here and am where I am meant to be,” she said. “I help the wounded, work with them and focus on therapeutic care.”
Serhiienkova was initially on track to become a pediatrician, then a family doctor, but when hostilities began in Donbas, she chose to specialize in military medicine. The full-scale Russian invasion caught her in Mariupol, where she was first at the hospital and then in a bunker at the Illich Steel and Iron Works.
In April 2022, after nearly 50 days in besieged Mariupol, she was captured along with other members of the 36th Marine Brigade.
She spent 180 days in Russian captivity – at Sartana and Olenivka, in occupied Donetsk Oblast, as well as in Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, Valuyki, Belgorod Oblast, and Kursk. She carried an officer’s identification, so the Russians knew she was a Ukrainian military medic.
“They accused us of mistreating their military prisoners, even though we didn’t have any prisoners because we were surrounded and didn’t take any captives,” Serhiienkova said. “We were physically beaten and psychologically tormented, both women and men.”
She said that during the interrogations, they would ask about Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian ultra-nationalist who worked with the Nazis when they were preparing to attack the Soviet Union. They also wanted details of Ukraine’s military actions and would psychologically torment the medics with claims that Ukraine had fallen.
Serhiienkova, who is still having therapy, said the whole experience was profoundly traumatic.
“The screams of our men were the most horrifying. They were constantly screaming because they were being tortured continuously, in the torture chambers, in the corridors,” she said. “They forced them to sing the song ‘Day of Victory’ and beat them to it. I have such horrific memories, the songs, and the beatings to them.”
In October 2022, she was released with 107 other women.
Russia is holding around 500 medical workers in captivity, according to Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna. The Geneva Conventions say medical personnel are non-combatants and should be released if captured, but Russia wants to exchange them as combatants.
Because many medics have higher education and are officers, Moscow wants to exchange them for Russian officers.
“If a person has merits and awards, they also want higher ranking Russians for this person,” said Andrii Kryvtsov, chairman of “Military Medics of Ukraine,” an NGO.
“We have a very difficult situation with Viktor Ivchuk, the commander of the hospital, who is a colonel, and who was given a gold star and the title of Hero of Ukraine at the moment when he was captured,” Kryvstov said. “Russia found out about it and now only wants to exchange him for a Hero of Russia.”
There are 42 people associated with “Military Medics of Ukraine” in captivity. Of these, 30 have been officially confirmed by Russia and 12 are missing, he says. The majority he knows about are being kept in 16 Russian prisons, but he says there are many more.
The Media Initiative for Human Rights has confirmed 75 names, according to Viktoriia Pantiushenko, the organization’s advocacy manager.
“Our journalists continuously monitor channels, including Telegram and websites, for updates on prisoners of war,” she said. “We also use testimonies from recently released military personnel and medics who can identify individuals they saw or knew about while in captivity.”
For five years, Pantiushenko worked for the return from captivity of her husband, a military serviceman. She said that experience helps her work with families of other prisoners of war.
“Efforts must be made at all levels, including communication and pressure. The key is not to remain silent,” she said. “The issue of holding medical personnel started to be actively raised in the public sphere about a year ago. Before that, it wasn’t very prominently addressed.”
The holding of medics is not only a war crime but could also be classified as a crime against humanity, according to Andrii Yakovlev, a lawyer at the Media Initiative for Human Rights.
“When a medic is captured while providing medical assistance, it means that someone is not receiving timely medical care. This increases the number of war casualties,” he said. “When they are in captivity, it means that someone may die or be left with a disability.”
Not only are medics tortured, but some are also falsely accused and sentenced to 20-30 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.
The international community must condemn Russia’s actions and intensify efforts to address human rights violations. Andrii Kryvtsov, from Military Medics, called for a boycott of Russian doctors and scientists at international events. It is wrong that they attend seminars as their Ukrainian colleagues are subjected to brutal torture and held in horrific conditions, he said.
“Criminal charges should be pursued against everyone involved in torture and illegal detention, including prison staff. In one recent case, a medic died from starvation,” Kryvtsov said. “International arrest warrants are needed to deter such acts.”
While the Ukrainian government is appealing to international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, to investigate medical care in Ukraine’s occupied territories and address the detention of medical workers, other bodies are focused on securing the release of captives.
Only a coordinated approach involving sanctions, political pressure and diplomatic pressure will be effective, and the Kursk operation has given Ukraine more opportunities to capture prisoners of war for potential exchanges.
Elina Beketova is a Democracy Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, focusing on the occupied territories of Ukraine. She worked as a journalist, editor and TV anchor for various news stations in Kharkiv and Kyiv.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
War Without End
Russia’s Shadow Warfare
CEPA Forum 2025
Explore CEPA’s flagship event.
