Ukraine’s Military Intelligence has succeeded in freeing Natalia Shylo four years after the Ukrainian teacher was first taken prisoner in the Russian proxy ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [‘DPR’]. No information has been given about the special operation to get Natalia out, but she is now safely back in Kyiv.
Natalia Shylo, a teacher of physics and mathematics, is from Horlivka, near Donetsk, but she was forced to flee after Russia began its military aggression in 2014. She and her adult daughter initially moved to Kharkiv, however Natalia was living and working in Kyiv in 2021.
According to Iryna Shyla, her mother had openly expressed her pro-Ukrainian views, including on social media, and had once encountered problems entering occupied territory, with the militants taking her passport and telephone. In an interview to Radio Svoboda after her mother’s abduction, Iryna spoke of her bitter regret that she and her mother had not learned from this experience. They had known of the danger, yet somehow had never expected that you could end up imprisoned “just for having your own opinion”.
Russia began abducting Ukrainian civilians in huge numbers after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, clearly targeting (among others) those viewed as ‘too pro-Ukrainian’. Such abductions had, however, begun earlier, with Natalia only one of many hostages seized earlier in the so-called ‘Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics’.
In July 2021, when her mother fell ill, Natalia set off for occupied Horlivka. By then, the only access to occupied Donetsk oblast was via Russia. Natalia disappeared after phoning her daughter on 5 July as she was approaching the ‘border’ between Russia and its proxy ‘DPR’ and saying that she would call again when she reached Donetsk. Iryna later learned that her mother had been forced off the coach by ‘DPR militants’.
After Natalia’s mother reported her missing, she received a call from the so-called ‘DPR ministry of state security’ saying that Natalia was suspected of ‘spying for Ukraine’. She was held prisoner in the Donetsk SIZO, or remand prison,
In January 2022, Natalia was shown on propaganda TV with the so-called ‘DPR ministry’ claiming that she had served to “direct fire” at DPR targets. Just six weeks before Russia began openly bombing Ukrainian citizens, murdering and maiming civilians, the propaganda feature tried to claim that Natalia had helped ‘Ukraine’ kill civilians in Horlivka. It was clear that the accusations against her were based solely on her social media entries, with Natalia herself firmly denying the charge of ‘spying’.
These same ‘DPR militants’ are known to have savagely tortured other Ukrainian hostages, including several women, and what a person says on such propaganda videos very often depends on the level of torture used to force out ‘confessions’.
Thankfully, in Natalia Shylo’s case, the ‘criminal prosecution’ was terminated, probably when Russia openly annexed ‘DPR’ and began illegally applying Russian legislation. She was released from SIZO, however was not allowed to leave occupied territory. It was, seemingly, Liudmyla Huseinova, a former hostage who was at one stage held prisoner together with Natalia, who first approached Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, who somehow succeeded in ‘evacuating’ Natalia. Among those waiting, with a Ukrainian flag, for Natalia in Kyiv were Liudmyla and another former hostage, Yulia Dvornichenko.
PLEASE remember and help to publicize those other hostages who remain in Russian captivity, including Natalia Vlasova who was not only tortured, but gang raped, and who was told that the Russian-controlled militants would send a bomb to kill her small daughter.
See, and if possible, circulate information about her and others below.
Natalia Vlasova; Serhiy Hruzynov and Victor Shydlovsky
Hryhory Sinchenko
Russia passes horrific sentence against young Ukrainian patriot after years of savage torture
Ihor Kirianenko
Seventh year of life-threatening torture in Russian-occupied Donbas for supporting Ukraine
Ihor Nazarenko and Yury Shapovalov
Tortured Ukrainian doctors save victims of Russia’s medical torture in occupied Donbas
Viktor Dzytsiuk
Stanislav Boranov and Volodymyr Cherkas
After fake ‘release’, Russia’s FSB re-abduct Donbas hostages first seized and tortured in 2017
Former child hostage spends 7th birthday in Russian captivity for wanting to live in free Ukraine
