EXCLUSIVE REPORT – UKRAINE: Escape, Capture, Torture, By Anzhelika Todorashko *UPDATE: Now Safe

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My twin sister is being held captive and tortured in Russia. I want to free her by going public.

My name’s Anzhelika Todorashko, I’m a 32-year-old Ukrainian Human Resources – IT professional, with a Master’s degree in Organizational Development and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Psychology, working in Lviv, Ukraine.  I had to flee, upon the Russian invasion, to Lisbon, Portugal, where my company has an office.   

My mom Viktoriia, twin sister Valeria, and 19-year-old brother Aleksander, were not so lucky.  They live in Strіlecha, a village in northwest Ukraine, just next to the Russian border.  It was occupied immediately upon the invasion, so they didn’t have a single opportunity to leave.

My mom, a 54-year-old army cook, was captured on March 26, and released on April 10 during the prisoner exchange.  She’s currently in the hospital.  I talked to her, and she told me things about her captivity that would chill anyone to the marrow.

Russians captured my twin sister Valeria, on April 29.  I tried contacting various organizations and authorities, but there’s no information on her so there’s nothing they can do.  I’m terrified that she, a beautiful young woman, might be abused and even tortured to death at this very moment.

I am making my story public and am ready to share additional information to get my sister back.  I know such publicity has already helped my friend to bring her father back from captivity. 

My mom was captured and tortured for 2-weeks before she was released.  I hope my sister is alive and will be released soon. 

When the war started, I was in Lviv.  I was advised to leave the country immediately and in two days I reached Warsaw, Poland.  I stayed there for 5 days and decided to move to Lisbon, where one of the offices of my company is situated.  Along the way, I received so much help.

Thanks to Marcia and so many kind people in Portugal, I was even able to bring my dog named Barcelona with me, rent a small house, and keep my job as an HR manager in my IT company. At the time, it indeed seemed like I had escaped the war successfully.  But those I love were not so lucky. 

Once I settled in Lisbon, local news outlets were mentioning me as a Ukrainian refugee with “a happy story”, I didn’t realize then, that it would soon become a tragic story. 

On the very first day of the war, when Russians occupied the Strilecha village where my 54-year-old mom, 32-year-old twin sister, and a 19-year-old brother live, they immediately cut off the electricity and communication lines.  For weeks, I had no idea what was going on there.

On April 10, I got the first call from my mom.  She rang immediately after the prisoner exchange and told me what happened to her and in Strilecha.

Since it’s a village right next to the Russian border, it was occupied within the first 30-minutes of the invasion. 

First, Russians searched the houses.  Later, they settled in them, threatening to kill the villagers.   Locals had nowhere to run, as Strilecha is surrounded by fields, so anyone crossing them would be a sitting duck.

The proximity to the Russian border explains why most of the uneducated villagers have been siding with Russia.  When my mom, an exceptional chef, who worked in the top restaurants of Kharkiv for many years, decided to join the Ukrainian army as a cook in 2017, her neighbors did not understand why she would make such a decision.

Because of their pro-Russian views, no one requested humanitarian corridors to Ukraine, when Strilecha got occupied.  Moreover, one of the villagers was assigned by the Russians, to be the new head of the village.

When Russians learned from the locals that my mom worked for the army, they broke into her house, tied her hands, put a sack on her head, fixed it with duct tape, and took her away.

She was taken to Hoptivka, a border post nearby, where she spent four days.  Then she was transported to Kursk in Russia.

In Kursk, she was held in a remand center in a cell with another woman.  She also saw civilians, drivers, volunteers, and even a chaplain there.

My mom was tortured with electric shock because the Russians thought she knew military secrets and the positions of the ‘Ukrainian Nazis’.  Of course, she didn’t, she was only a cook.

Torture was frequent.

She witnessed men being tortured to death.  Often, they would die of internal bleeding and broken bones.  Young women had their heads shaved, then got their noses broken, and nails ripped off.  My mom also saw others tortured with electric shocks and suffocation. Volunteers were made to suffer the most.

The captive women she saw had been constantly degraded and humiliated.  Russians would ask them to sit on their knees with their hands stretched forward and beg them for a piece of bread.  Or take their underwear off and squat down, often for the entire day, simply for the amusement of their captors.

One plate of oatmeal was the only food, and it was to be shared by a dozen or more captives.  My mom convinced a guard to give her the shade from the ceiling lamp so that she could use it as a plate, to share her meal with a young man from another cell.  That man barely had the strength to move because of the extreme labor that he was forced to endure.  The ability to be helpful kept my mom going through these very dark times.

Later, she was moved to Crimea on a military plane and got on the list for a prisoner exchange.  On April 10, she was released.

She says she stayed alive only because she kept quiet, and wasn’t further abused because she’s a 54-year-old woman.  My mom was one of the lucky ones, although, she is currently still in the hospital, they expect her to recover, and she plans to continue her service in the army.  The things she experienced during her time in captivity would chill anyone to the marrow.

But all was not well because on April 29, my twin sister was captured in Strilecha.  I found out from my brother.  He was able to hide his phone during the search.  Later, he managed to connect to the Internet.  Sometimes, he sends me short text messages because the network is too slow for calls and media.  I hope to get him out of there somehow, but that’s a separate story.

When my sister was captured, my brother wasn’t at home.  He learned about it from neighbors.  These neighbors (collaborators) were just standing around and watching as she, with her head covered with a sack and hands tied in the same way as my mom’s, was being taken away.  I’m terrified that she, a beautiful young woman, is being abused and even tortured to death at this very moment.

Valeria had decided to become a chef like our mom, but she was never part of the Ukrainian army or any government agency, she just liked to create wonderful tastes and textures with food, it was like culinary art to her.  Since April 29, I have no idea what has happened to Valeria. 

I’ve been contacting numerous organizations, agencies, and individual people with possible connections, but to no avail; they say there is nothing they can do without more information.  My sister is not on any of the lists yet.  I just hope she’s still alive and that she can make it onto the prisoner exchange.

But listening to my mom’s stories of the captivity, I’m so scared of what the Russians may be doing to her.

I was told to stay low for the safety of my sister and brother, but my sister was captured anyway, so now I have nothing to lose and will go public.  After all that I have heard about my mom’s experience and what she witnessed, and the stories of others I know, I must do everything I can to make sure that my dear sister, Valeria, is set free. 

I’m asking for your help in spreading the word.  Please help me rescue my sister from the horrors of captivity and torture. The Rocky Mountain Tribune has my contact information.

UPDATE: 5/29/22

My sister Valeria and brother Oleksandr, are safe in Latvia now.
I was silent for a long time, just for reasons of their safety, but today they made it to Latvia. They are safe and free people now. Thank you, God!

I am so grateful to so many people who helped along the way, who fed them, who invited them into your homes, and who coordinated every movement and all logistics! Thank you for your kindness! Thank you for your prayers! They are safe!!! My mom and I can finally sleep now. Everything will be good from now on.