Warning: this article contains descriptions of torture which some readers may find distressing.
A Ukrainian Marine, Yuri Hulchuk, who endured severe torture in a Russian prison, has reportedly lost his ability to speak or express emotion.
At 23, Hulchuk was subjected to electrocution through his genitals by a torturer known as Dr Evil after his capture during the war.
He also faced frequent beatings from guards, who used stun guns on his legs so extensively that he nearly became paralyzed.
Now freed, Hulchuk is so deeply traumatized that he hardly reacts to his mother, Milana Kompaniiets, a doctor.
A video captures the emotional moment he reunited with her after spending over two years in Russian detention.
They embraced, but he could not respond to her words: “We love you, we really love you… Without you, we didn’t have a life.
“You are our sun, our joy, our pride, our love,” she continued.
Kompaniiets spent two years searching for proof her son was alive after his disappearance during the April 2022 fall of the Illich steel plant in Mariupol.
She eventually identified him in a photograph of Russian prisoners of war, despite his altered appearance.
Subsequently, information from exchanged prisoners confirmed he was alive, but she also learned about the horrific torture he had endured.
Kompaniiets personally met with individuals released in exchanges by Russia and eventually connected with a Ukrainian national guardsman who had shared a cell with her son in a harsh penal colony in Moldavia.
“We talked every day for hours. I learned things that I, as a mother, shouldn’t have known,” she revealed.
According to the Media Initiative for Human Rights in Ukraine, Hulchuk was beaten so severely that he could no longer speak.
“I think [he suffered] a stroke from the beating,” she stated.
“My son spoke English, Chinese, and Polish fluently and was very talkative, and after all that, not being able to speak.”
Kompaniiets rested her head on her hands.
“They used electric shocks on his genitals, and his legs were paralyzed. When I found out, all I could do was cry and scream,” she explained.
Hulchuk had defied his mother’s wishes by leaving university to join the 36th Marine Brigade.
Upon seeing his picture, Kompaniiets felt he had become ‘a complete stranger after the horrors he had faced.
His cellmate confirmed that Hulchuk had been targeted for particularly brutal torture.
“The boys tried to talk to him, but he could not say a word,” she said.
“I don’t know if his speech centre is impaired or something [is wrong] with the muscles of his mouth or throat.”
Hulchuk was eventually exchanged on September 14, but due to the beatings, he lost the use of his legs, and he also lost his speech and emotions, according to a report.
Upon his initial release, Hulchuk was unable to speak but managed to type a message on a smartphone during a call to his mother, saying: “Mama is as beautiful as always.”
He also remarked that his father was ‘as grey-haired as before’.
Prior to the war, Hulchuk was fluent in three foreign languages and was studying to become a Chinese translator.