WAR IN UKRAINE | DISPATCH
My son said ‘I know what hell is’ — before the Russians took him again
Mother tells of Ukrainian civilian’s torture, starvation and despair at the hands of a cruel enemy
Leonid Popov, who has been tortured and beaten, was hospitalised for emaciation and has not been seen since the Russians recaptured him
The Times
After months of torture and starvation in Russian captivity, Leonid Popov had just enough time to describe his horrific experiences before he was again seized by President Putin’s forces and driven away to an uncertain fate.
“I was in hell,” he told his mother during a short telephone call. “Remember how you used to tell me about hell when I was a child and we went to church? Mum, now I know what hell is.”
Popov, who turns 23 on Tuesday, grew up in Melitopol, a city in southern Ukraine. He was diagnosed with a form of schizophrenia when he was a teenager but his condition improved dramatically after being prescribed medication. He moved to central Ukraine with his mother in 2019 but returned to
