Photographs illustrating the change in a man who was held as a Russian prisoner of war have surfaced, and the transformation in his appearance is alarming.
Oleksandr Strafun, a Ukrainian reserve officer, was captured while defending Mariupol in 2022. At the time, the Russian invasion was just beginning, and he was trying to protect his region from intruders.
Strafun lived with his wife, Olena, and was employed at the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works. Although he had not been involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014, when Russia invaded, he felt compelled to defend his nation once the invasion started.
He was unaware of the ordeal that awaited him.
Volunteer Olena Zolotariova from the NGO Power of People released before and after photos of Strafun and Olena to highlight the stark physical transformation he underwent during his three years of captivity and subsequent release.
In the initial photo, Strafun appears healthy and content, dressed in traditional Ukrainian attire with dark hair and facial hair. The later image reveals a man who is almost unrecognizable, with a frail body, shaved white hair, hollowed features, and pale skin.
His appearance led many to wonder about the treatment he endured while in captivity.
Reports from the UN, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations indicate that Ukrainian prisoners held by Russia face systematic and widespread torture. This includes beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, sexual violence, and prolonged stress positions. Additionally, prisoners reportedly suffer from malnutrition, are often denied medical attention, and experience isolation and torture in private settings.
Strafun’s ordeal began on February 22 when he reached out to military recruitment offices to offer his services. “He always knew that if something suddenly started, he had no right to stay home,” Olena recounted in an interview with the 0629 news outlet.
She mentioned that he advised her to evacuate, but she chose to stay, explaining that their cats and his parents needed her assistance. He enlisted in the defense forces on February 25 and informed his wife the next day that he would be leaving.
“He said he wouldn’t return home anymore. I asked, when should I expect you? And he answered: ‘I’ll return after victory’,” Olena said. Their last conversation took place on March 1, when he asked for soap and socks, but Olena was unable to deliver them before losing contact.
During the Russian assault, Olena was trapped in blockaded Mariupol, and her phone was stolen by Kadyrov forces. Once she reached safety, she connected with families of other prisoners and discovered that her husband had been seen at the notorious Olenivka detention facility in Donetsk Oblast.
Tragically, on July 29, an explosion struck a barracks at the Olenivka prison colony, resulting in the deaths of 50 Ukrainian prisoners and injuring over 70. Olena had managed to relay her number to the facility through another prisoner’s wife and spoke with her husband just one day before the explosion, during which he mentioned unusual activity in the colony.
“He said something strange was happening in the colony, some constant movements. Some people were being taken away, others relocated. He thought, maybe this is already an exchange?” Olena explained.
The next morning, she learned about the explosion. Fortunately, her husband survived and called to inform her that he was scheduled for an exchange.
Regrettably, that exchange did not occur until three years later, when he was finally returned to Ukraine through a prisoner swap. However, the man who returned looked drastically different.
The transformation shocked people online, with one Reddit user remarking: “he looks like my grandfather before my grandfather passed of heart disease. It’s pretty wild how white his hair went. I hope he can recover with nutrition and his long term issues are manageable.”