A TrackEnsure employee tells how his family got captured by Russians

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kherson region has been hit hard.

In early March, Russian troops reached the borders of the Kherson and Dnipro regions, and a three-day defense of the village of Vysokopillia, which will be discussed further, has begun.

The family of the TrackEnsure employee remained surrounded, where they had to sit in the basements during these three days of heroic defense. The forces were unequal, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Territorial Defense units held out to the last soldier. During these three days, according to the reports of the General Staff and what the locals saw, at least one column of Russian troops was destroyed (tanks, vehicles, a huge number of personnel).

Unfortunately, after three days of massive shelling of the positions of the Ukrainian troops, as well as civilian infrastructure, the Russian army managed to enter Vysokopillia and began to terrorize the local population. The Russian invaders blocked the mobile network and the Internet, it became impossible to contact the locals by phone.

Many people tried to get out of this location. But the Russian troops did not let anyone out. Along with this, they began to mine roads and fields, which made it almost impossible to leave the village. From the first days of the occupation, the Russians began mortar shelling and used the "Grad" MLRS throughout the territory of Vysokopillia. Due to such shelling, gas and water supply, as well as the electrical network, disappeared instantly. It would seem, why is it necessary to shell the civilian population if the Russians managed to capture the territory of the village? Nobody had answers...

The family of our employee remained under occupation for 3 months. All this time, they sat in the basements and, in between explosions, cooked food and heated water on fire at their yard. All this was very hard. After a week of such a "life", many tried to get out of the village. People tried to flee on foot or by cars through the mined fields and gardens. Two cars were blown up by tanks. Men who tried to their families away, were thrown out of their cars. Children and women were allowed to go outside for cash and gold jewelry. Russians checked men for the presence of tattoos on their bodies, and also verified them at their particular databases. Where did they get such information from? There are no answers yet.

Our employee's family was less fortunate. At their residential quarter, mines “arrived” several times a day...

Here is a story from a TrackEnsure employee:

“In mid-April, the Russians arrived in a residential area and began searches, they were looking for any stuff that could be connected with data broadcast and transmission. They took away mobile phones and other means of communication, so I've lost contact with my family. And from that moment my personal hell began, things happened that traumatized us all mentally.

Now I'll tell you the story about my father, a retired former police investigator, and how the Russians tortured him.

My father, Victor, is 48 years old. After working in the police and after retiring, he got a job in a security firm of a company that was engaged in the transportation of grain by ships along the Dnieper River. In his job, it was mandatory to have a walkie-talkie in order to keep in touch with other employees over a large area. But this walkie-talkie played a bad role. After the Russian invaders came to my family house, they found this radio. They told my father: “pack your things, we'll be back in an hour.” After they arrived, they took away mobile phones and took Viktor with them, putting a bag over his head.

My mother Tatyana and my ten-year-old brother were left alone. During this time, while father was being held captive, my mother tried to go to the chief Russian, who led the occupation authorities of Vysokopillia, in order to negotiate father's release. They offered everything they had (gold earrings, a wedding ring and several hundred dollars, since Russians did not take hryvnias in principle). Unfortunately, no one wanted to contact her.

This "hell" lasted 9 days. After that, my mother contacted me and said that my father had returned. He was all beaten up and with an open wound in his leg.

Further, according to Viktor: “After they brought me to some basement, they immediately tied me to a chair and began torturing me. According to the appearance of this soldier, he was either Buryat or Yakut by nationality. He started beating me and asking me where I got this walkie-talkie. After my answers that I work for a security company, he apparently did not believe me and continued torturing me. In addition to beatings, they tortured me with water - they tried to drown me. Apparently, realizing that there was no information, this occupant started shooting at me in the back with a traumatic pistol. Saved by the fact that it was cold, and I was in a thick jacket and a sweater. All this went on for four days in a row. All this time I was tied to a chair and without the opportunity to drink, eat and urinate. On the fourth day, a Russian shot me in the leg not with traumatic, but with a real gun. The pain was terrible. I was still sitting tied to a chair and bleeding ... In addition, they constantly frightened me that if I didn't tell anything, they would kill my little son and rape my wife. I only asked to be killed instead. On the fifth day, I was transferred from the basement to the garage, where several other local men were sitting. There they bandaged my leg and gave me some food and water. So I spent four more days, and they let me go."

For all the time that they kept my father, he lost a lot of weight, but did not break down mentally. My mother and the neighbors who were still in Vysokopillia gathered around Viktor and washed his wounds, found antibiotics and changed the bandages.

So they spent two more days in the occupied village, and decided that they could not delay even a minute longer. Taking two bicycles (because the occupiers had taken the car before), my parents and brother went through the mined field, along with several neighbors. At the Russian checkpoint, they did not want to let them out for a very long time, but when the new shelling started, the Russians decided to let them go.

It was hard to go - everywhere there were mines, pits from shells. Thirteen kilometers walked along these paths, and finally, they reached the city of Zelenodolsk. Where they were met by our military. My father was immediately taken to the hospital, where he was examined by doctors, put a new bandage on his leg and sent by car to the city of Kryvyi Rih.

in Kryvyi Rih, my father immediately underwent an operation, where the rest of the bullet fragments, clothing fabrics stuck in the wound were already taken out of his leg. According to the doctor, “if you had waited another week, it would have been blood poisoning. At best, the leg would have to be amputated, at worst, death.”

Now, my family has remained to live in Kryvyi Rih. Having lived their whole happy life in Vysokopillia, Kherson region, they lost everything in one moment. Only memories remained.

Parents say: "We never thought that at fifty, we would be left without our home, without a car, without all the stuff."

No matter how sad it is, we believe in our brave defenders and hope that soon we will be able to liberate Vysokopillia, Kherson and all Ukraine!