Maksym Ostroushko, 27, who told the Mirror how he was captured fighting for Ukraine and held by the Kremlin for almost two years, has been helped by Ukrainian charity Wings of Victory

By Simon Murphy, Senior News Reporter, Daily Mirror
09:09, 28 Feb 2026
(Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/i-set-fire-drugged-tortured-36792347)

Riding a horse against a snowy backdrop, Maksym Ostroushko looks a picture of freedom amid nature.

But the Ukrainian military veteran wasn’t always so fortunate… he was once a prisoner of war. The 27-year-old, captured by Russia when he was the last survivor of a 35-strong unit, endured nearly two years of detention. While in captivity, including a stint in Siberia, Maksym told how he suffered torture. Now he is among those getting help from Christian Aid partner, Wings of Victory, a charitable foundation which provides hippotherapy. The form of treatment uses riding as a tool to heal – with the horse’s movement helping people.

We visited a session in Kyiv oblast, with Maksym riding on 10-year-old steed, Barcelona. The young man has been on a long, and dangerous, road to get here. Maksym was serving in the military in eastern Ukraine at the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion four years ago. He told how he joined a unit sent in the direction of Mariupol, a port city in Ukraine’s south-east eventually captured by Russia in May 2022 after a brutal siege.

“We were told that our mission was to stop the column of Russian troops who were riding into Mariupol,” Maksym explains. They were stationed in Volnovakha, almost 40 miles north of Mariupol, looking for the Kremlin’s fighters. “It was triple encirclement so we could not get through,” he recalls. “There were many attacks from Russians and from this group of 35 people I was the only one who was left.”

He adds: “I tried to run away and I was hit but that was my… vest and I managed to run into a house. And they started attacking the house and I was wounded in the head… and I was on fire. And then I ran out of that house, I still had a machine gun but I was already too wounded, and I couldn’t see well. So another car with Russian troops came and they captured me.”

Maksym puts his survival down to fortune. “Maybe God saved me,” he says. It was early March 2022. Maksym recalls being drugged, saying he was on the floor for two days. “I realised in neighbouring houses there were also some prisoners of war,” he says. “One day, they decided to take us to the town, to the hospital, but one of the Russians said that we don’t have space for all of them. So he just asked who wants to smoke and one guy said, I want. And he gave him a cigarette and when he was finished he killed him. And then the rest who had space in the car, we were taken.”

Maksym had skull surgery and spent time in hospital due to his burns before being sent to Olenivka, Donetsk oblast, where prisoners of war were held. He was then taken to a detention centre in Siberia. There, Maksym said he spent “one year and a half with torture, hunger, cold and all kinds of humiliation”.

He adds: “Many Ukrainians were beaten so that they died there in captivity.” Maksym explains there were normally morning and evening check ups. “They usually just beat or used electro shocks or dogs,” he says. “Also, those who spoke Ukrainian were not allowed to speak Ukrainian but only Russian.”

Was it a daily occurrence that he was tortured? “Every day, sometimes several times a day,” he replies. “Because they said that we attacked them, we were terrorist who attacked Russia.” To cope, he prayed. “I just prayed and tried to survive,” he explains.

Maksym then spent time at a detention centre in Taganrog, a city in south-west Russia. Asked if he also suffered torture there, he replies: “It was worse.” Maksym adds: “Because in this second place there were many people from Azov, and we were seen as terrorists so the attitude was worse. Because I was on trial there for killing civilians, for stealing and terrorism. But I didn’t do any of that. And their sentence was 25 years of imprisonment.”

Explaining why it was worse, he says: “More violence, beatings, torturing and every other day interrogations.” Despite the hardship, Maksym – originally from the Donbas, but who now lives in Kyiv oblast – held a strong belief he would be exchanged. And on January 30, 2024, he finally was. “I was extremely happy because I was in such tension for these two years that I could finally breathe freely,” he says.

Maksym, who is no longer in the military and works for a metal processing firm, suffers from PTSD. But he is a fan of hippotherapy. “I really liked it and I recommend [it to] all other people, especially those who are in service or have been in service because it really helps,” he says. He adds: “I feel very quiet, very still and it’s really some kind of satisfaction when you do that.”

Wings of Victory’s head Viktoria Kramarenko also explains the benefits. “It’s a huge therapeutical effect for your posture and for your back and for… balance because these heavy weight horses have very smooth step… it’s like a wave,” she says.

She adds: “The body of the horse has a high temperature so you start with this warming up of your body. Many therapeutic procedures, they start with the warming up. Then you have this movement, combining with this rhythm… it really gives a strong effect.” The therapy – provided to adults and children by the charity – comes in different forms, depending on the person’s needs. “Sometimes it’s not riding, it’s just we lay the person down on the horse,” Viktoria says.

Maksym wants to bring his other half back with him. I ask him about his future – it is one he might never have had. “I hope to have children,” he says. “At least two.”