The Telegraph has been granted rare access to speak with two prisoners of war who were captured recently by the AFU as they were fighting with the so-called pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic.

The prisoners’ descriptions of how they were forcibly conscripted – rounded up, handed old Soviet weapons and ordered to shoot without proper training – has come under intense criticism.

Both Yevhen* and Bohdan* (*not the real names of the POWs) have maintained that they did not engage in close combat fighting. They claimed that they had been working as guards providing security to occupied buildings when they were captured.

However, the ARU have disputed this story and stated that the men were found with machine guns and had been fighting in the trenches when they were captured.

The POWs tell their stories to Defence Editor, Danielle Sheridan.

#ukrainewar #pow #prisonersofwar #dispatch

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