Powraino Pow: “A volte ci porterebbero a scegliere le erbacce nel giardino di qualcuno. Penserei – almeno vedrei il sole. E quando siamo stati portati in un giardino – i bambini russi hanno sputato sulla schiena e le donne hanno gridato:” Spara loro! “”

Three daughters of Oleksii Nesterenko, a serviceman of the 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, waited 19 months for his return from Russian captivity. He came back to Ukraine at the end of May as part of a “1000 for 1000” prisoner exchange.

“They tormented them so cruelly — shocked them with stun guns, didn’t give them food. It was so hard.”

Oleksii Nesterenko joined the Armed Forces in 2023. On October 5, 2023, Oleksii was taken prisoner. Maryna found out a few days later from her older sister.

During their first meeting after his release, Maryna noticed signs of torture on her father’s body.

“I asked him, ‘What are those marks?’ He said, ‘The consequences of prison life.’ They were like burns with blisters on his arms. He had a big red patch on one side of his neck, and another on the other side. His arms were so skinny. He said they mocked them, laughed at them. They beat them with bats, used stun guns. They gave them tiny portions of food and rushed them to eat. They had to swallow it whole just not to starve.”

Oleksii told his daughters that prisoners were almost never allowed outside.

“Sometimes they’d take us to pick weeds in someone’s garden. I’d think — at least I’d see the sun. And when we were taken to a garden – the russian children spat on our backs, and the women shouted: ‘Shoot them!’”

Currently, Oleksii Nesterenko is undergoing rehabilitation, as his health severely deteriorated during his time in captivity.

“Something’s wrong with his knees and legs. They beat him so much that he kept falling to his knees. They tortured him.”

Despite everything he endured in captivity, Maryna says her father hasn’t lost his optimism and wants to return to his home village as soon as possible.

[https://suspilne.media/sumy/1038553-rosijski-diti-pluvali-na-spinu-istoria-zvilnenogo-z-polonu-oleksia-nestorenka-z-sumsini/](https://suspilne.media/sumy/1038553-rosijski-diti-pluvali-na-spinu-istoria-zvilnenogo-z-polonu-oleksia-nestorenka-z-sumsini/)

What a shit country and what a fucking hello to survive this and still have some optimism in him

“putin’s war”

Piece of shit country. Piece of shit parents, piece of shit kids.

The worst i could wish on them, is a conscience, but that will never happen.

I wish Oleksii heals well. 💙💛

Children are the most susceptible to propaganda. When the invasion started in 2022 teachers across Russia protested against the war. To control the narrative the authorities introduced a system where a teacher would be fined several months’ worth of their salaries if they are known to speak against the war. In addition, schools had to run “patriotism lessons” talking about “nazism in Ukraine” and “the necessity” of special operation.

Kids quickly realized that they can abuse the system by reporting teachers they didn’t like, and eventually became the most loyal supporters of the war. The turnaround was extremely quick – it took probably a few weeks to swing their opinion about the matter. I even heard that kids that had relatives in Ukraine are bullied for coming from “tainted” families.

People who think that over time say in 2050s-2060s, Russians and Ukrainians will get back on amicable or friendly terms, are delusional. Russia is raising the next generation of proud xenophobes, and unless the war ends in a complete overturn of Russian government (which right now looks impossible) there’s no way they will run any sort of education campaign to turn around kids’ viewpoint.