“Russian Forces Seized My Home and Imprisoned a Soldier Inside”

Marina Perederii once cherished her home on 17 Sadova Street in the small mining city of Vuhledar, eastern Ukraine. When she and her husband purchased the property, it was little more than a shell. With love and dedication, they renovated it, adorning their bedroom with cherry blossoms and doves—symbols of love and well-being. They even built a swimming pool and a sauna, crafting a dream home.

However, that dream was shattered in February 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As her husband went off to fight, Marina fled with their children, capturing what she thought might be her last memories of their home in a heartfelt video message: “My dear house, I don’t know if you will stand or not. I don’t know if we’ll ever return here… or if we’ll even survive at all.”

Marina would not see her home again until February 2023, but through the lens of a Russian soldier’s body camera. The footage, which circulated on social media, featured a marine named Fima rummaging through family photos in her living room. He looked at one picture and remarked, “Beautiful.” This invasion of her personal space ignited a mix of anger and sorrow in Marina, who lamented, “I wish I had taken the albums with me.”

The battle for Vuhledar stretched over two and a half years, with Ukrainian forces holding the line against a major Russian offensive in early 2023. However, by October 2024, the city fell fully to Russian control. In late January 2023, as Fima led his troops to the suburbs, they became embroiled in fierce fighting on Sadova Street, ultimately entering Marina’s home.

While Fima gained notoriety as a hero back in Russia, the footage he captured concealed a grim reality: a Ukrainian soldier named Oleksii was being held captive in Marina’s basement, starved and in dire need of medical attention. Before the war, Oleksii was an IT specialist, but he volunteered to fight and took on the role of a drone operator in Vuhledar, earning the nickname “Dancer” for his love of dance.

When the Russian forces advanced in January, Oleksii and his fellow soldiers attempted to retreat but were shot during the chaos. Captured and wounded, Oleksii was moved from house to house until he ended up in the basement of Marina’s home, where he was held captive for almost a month. Russian footage showed him wrapped in one of Marina’s carpets, highlighting his desperate situation.

During his captivity, Oleksii faced starvation and dehydration. “I was able to find some crumbs on the floor,” he recounted later. “There was a piece of cracker, which a mouse stole from me at night.” The hunger he experienced was overshadowed by his desperate thirst. He once tore apart a sauna, hoping to find water in the pipes, only to inadvertently consume antifreeze, causing severe internal burns.

In March 2023, as Ukrainian forces began retaking parts of Vuhledar, another video surfaced showing Oleksii being discovered by Kane Te Tai, a former New Zealand soldier. “New Zealand, New Zealand, it’s me!” Oleksii shouted in relief. Tragically, Te Tai died in battle just two weeks later. Oleksii was eventually rescued, but he was on the brink of death; had he stayed just a few more days, he believes he would not have survived.

Marina, now in Germany, is left grappling with the memories of what transpired in her home. “Thank God Oleksii survived. But the fact that people died in my house shocked me. There is only death in there,” she reflects. The Russian Ministry of Defence was contacted for comment regarding Oleksii’s treatment but did not respond.

Fima, now known as Andrei Efimkin, has been portrayed as a hero in Russian state media, even engaging with schoolchildren about his experiences. When contacted about the bodycam footage, he claimed he was merely distracting himself from the chaos outside, but he declined to discuss Marina further.

As she tries to rebuild her life in Germany, Marina still mourns the loss of her home. “It’s so hard. I can still see my house in my dreams,” she admits. Despite the destruction of her beloved home, marked only by the blue of her former swimming pool amidst rubble in drone footage, she clings to hope: “I still hope that Ukraine will win, and we will come back. My land is there; the air is mine.”