Inside Russia's Foreign Mercenary Pipeline — The Ukrainian POW Camp Holding Putin's Recruits

0:03 This entire jail is only for prisoners of war.

0:09 I don't even know what to say right now.

0:11 But it's not really safe.

0:32 War is often imagined in moments, explosions, front lines, chaos.

0:38 But much of war is waiting,

0:41 waiting behind fences for decisions made from far away,

0:46 waiting for an end that may or may not come.

0:50 There are rules meant to govern even this.

0:52 They're set out in the Geneva Conventions,

0:55 a framework designed to preserve a baseline

0:57 of humanity in the middle of conflict.

1:01 Since 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine escalated the war dramatically,

1:07 thousands of soldiers have been captured on both sides.

1:11 Each one represents a life paused,

1:15 removed from the battlefield, but not from the war itself.

1:23 [music] We are in Lviv, and we are on our way

1:28 to a prison [music] at an undisclosed location.

1:31 Obviously, like many of the places that we have been taking you guys,

1:36 we can't show exactly where we are

1:39 or anything that identifies [music] the location,

1:42 because obviously this is an active [music] war zone,

1:45 and in order to maintain the integrity

1:47 of security measures and ensuring that Ukraine's enemy,

1:51 aka [music] Russia, does not learn of these locations, we have to be careful.

1:59 Under international law, prisoners of war are not considered criminals.

2:04 They are detained not as punishment,

2:07 but to prevent them from returning to combat.

2:10 The Geneva Conventions outline what that detention should look like.

2:18 Adequate food, shelter, medical care,

2:21 protection from violence, and even public exposure.

2:25 In theory, captivity is meant to exist within limits.

2:29 new belongings.

2:30 So, again, here you get your Red Cross hygiene kits.

2:38 [music] Put up their personal belongings,

2:39 and then in here they come and have a full shower.

2:44 So, this is the working zone here.

2:48 There are parts of the camp [music] designed to stimulate normalcy.

2:52 Workshops, jobs, routine.

2:54 Ukrainian officials say labor and recreation are part

2:58 of maintaining conditions under [music] the Geneva Convention.

3:01 But walking through the carpentry area, the atmosphere shifted immediately.

3:07 No, be careful because here could be Russians as well, like Russian citizens.

3:13 But it's not really safe.

3:15 The prisoners here had access to chisels, hammers,

3:19 sharp tools that in another context would seem ordinary.

3:25 Here, they carried a different weight.

3:27 Every movement felt amplified, and every stare lingered longer than usual.

3:33 So, basically, I wanted to interview people in here and kind of find out,

3:37 [clears throat] you know, some of their stories,

3:39 but um we were just told that a lot of them are Russian citizens,

3:43 and it may not be safe, so to just be careful of what we say to these people.

3:51 I was, as usual, the only woman in the room,

3:55 which, at times, can make this job a little more difficult.

4:01 No one said anything directly to me,

4:04 but there was an unmistakable tension in the silence,

4:08 especially when my cameraman and myself spotted a few individuals who stopped

4:13 working upon our arrival and playing with their sharp tools in their hands,

4:19 stared us down until we left.

4:21 [music] For the men here, the war has shifted from movement to stillness,

4:34 from uncertainty in the field to a different kind of uncertainty.

4:40 How long will they stay here?

4:42 Who will be included in the prisoner swap?

4:45 When or if they will return home.

4:48 Many of the individuals in this particular

4:50 camp are foreign mercenaries from South America, Africa.

4:55 Many of them promised significant money for fighting alongside Russia,

5:00 while others, like Cubans, were handed over by their very own government.

5:08 Is he Russian?

5:10 Uh he's Russian.

5:16 What?

5:18 Uzbek.

5:18 Oh, he's he's Uzbek.

5:19 He said he's Uzbekistan.

5:21 Uh Uh he's from Uzbekistan and after he moved to Russia.

5:31 And he uh recognized himself as a Russian.

5:35 Oh, he recognized himself as a Russian.

5:36 And when did he come here?

5:43 From the 1st of November.

5:44 1st of November of 2025.

5:46 Uh 2025, yeah.

5:50 Okay, and does he believe that he has any chance to be let out of here?

6:04 I'm waiting for the prisoners swap, so I have some hope.

6:07 He's waiting for the what?

6:09 Prisoner swap.

6:09 Prisoner swap, okay, between Russia and Ukraine?

6:12 Yeah.

6:13 And why does he believe that he will be one of the people who get swapped?

6:36 So that will be some like the luck.

6:38 Oh, it's He hopes he's lucky.

6:40 Yeah.

6:40 What's his name and how old is he?

6:44 25 years old.

6:45 25 years old, he's a year older than me.

6:47 How does he feel to be here?

6:49 How does it feel to be captured?

7:04 I I I don't have any I'm not free.

7:10 But like work to help me [clears throat] to feel like to feel busy at least,

7:15 so that's quite normally for me, yeah.

7:20 Okay, I'm going to say thank you in He speaks Russian?

7:22 I'm going to say thank you in Russian and shake his hand.

7:24 So we're okay.

7:28 Oh, it says it in English.

7:30 So [music] you can see here it says prisoners of war

7:33 receive three hot meals a day and access to drinking water.

7:35 [music] So this is basically um This is Geneva Convention, right?

7:41 This is all of [music] the laws from, yeah, the the Geneva Convention.

7:48 [music] Um which basically makes made the laws

7:50 and regulations around how to treat prisoners of war.

7:56 [music] In conflicts throughout history,

7:57 the treatment of prisoners has often reflected something [music] deeper.

8:01 Not just military policy, but rather the country's political identity.

8:07 [music] It signals in some ways how a country wants to be seen.

8:14 I'm told [music] here Russia does not follow the Geneva Convention, right?

8:19 Yes, they don't.

8:20 [music] They don't.

8:21 even have the separate camps for prisoners of war,

8:24 so they send the Ukrainian prisoners

8:27 to their regular jails [music] just like for criminals.

8:32 I have personally knew a few people who

8:34 got into captivity and I know that their family,

8:37 they maybe will get once from here information that somebody saw

8:43 him there and there and there like zero direct communication and zero [music]

8:49 information provided by the Geneva Convention.

8:52 Unfortunately, there [music] is no way that I

8:56 could get access to a POW camp in Russia.

8:59 I would likely [music] end up one myself.

9:02 This is bedroom number four.

9:05 So, it's bunk beds.

9:06 The conditions are actually very good, I must say.

9:11 As you guys know, cameraman and I have been

9:13 to probably some of the world's shittiest [music] prisons.

9:16 This is definitely not one of them.

9:20 As I walked through each [music] area of the prison,

9:23 which was once used for criminals, I told my [music] cameraman that this was

9:28 by far the nicest prison we had ever been to.

9:32 Yet, at the same time,

9:34 the people here [music] seemed to be the most intense

9:38 of anyone I had seen [music] or met with in a prison.

9:42 Almost everyone seemed like a shell of themselves.

9:46 The stares burned [music] through me,

9:48 and I couldn't tell what the emotions were,

9:52 but they were certainly running high.

9:55 Whether they were angry, sad, or simply defeated.

10:01 This is the dining hall.

10:03 Meals here are regular, structured.

10:05 In environments like this, routine becomes essential,

10:09 not just for physical survival,

10:11 but for maintaining a sense of time and even a sense of self.

10:16 In many ways, routine is what

10:18 separates [music] detention from something more chaotic.

10:22 This is other lining up to go in and and get their meal.

10:25 It basically everything here works in cohorts.

10:28 So, a group will work for a certain amount of time while another group eats,

10:32 while another group uh makes the furniture, and then it all rotates.

10:38 Uh so, everyone is kind of constantly doing something, but it goes by groups,

10:42 and they cycle through each activity or necessity uh throughout the day.

10:49 Let's actually go up in with them,

10:51 and we'll show you guys what it looks like for meal time.

11:14 So, this is what lunchtime looks like at a prisoner of war camp.

11:22 I'm told that a lot of these men lining up behind me

11:25 [music] were fighting on the front lines uh for the Russian army.

11:30 Uh a lot of these men are not even Russian nationals.

11:35 This group of people is made up of so many uh,

11:40 different countries from around the world.

11:42 Uh, Cameroon, uh, Ecuador, Brazil, obviously Colombia.

11:49 We know they have a large number of foreign mercenaries,

11:51 but really there is a very diverse group uh, of all ages.

11:57 Uh, some of these guys are as young as me, 24, 22, uh,

12:03 and others seem to be a lot older even in in elderly men here.

12:09 And a lot of them you can tell are also injured.

12:12 What country?

12:13 Africa.

12:14 Africa?

12:15 But which African country?

12:18 You don't want to say?

12:21 Okay.

12:22 You can tell this is a global POW camp here.

12:25 Everyone is from all over the world.

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12:40 and it's worth a few minutes of your time.

12:42 There's a feeling of pride by just, you know,

12:44 you got your stickers and and you're loading up your wood

12:47 and you're trying to dry it out and you're just that, you know,

12:49 taking it off the ladder and and [music]

12:51 and and bringing it over to your pile and and uh,

12:53 it sounds so basic, but it's it's uh, it gets me going.

12:57 If you've been thinking about a sawmill for your property,

13:00 request a quote at the link in the show notes.

13:08 There's a library, books in different languages, access to reading,

13:13 to activity generally aren't incidental details,

13:17 because like I said, captivity isn't only physical, it's psychological.

13:23 And time, of course, behaves differently in places like this.

13:28 What does it say?

13:29 It looks like a Soviet library, so you Post-Soviet library.

13:33 [music] Typical post-Soviet library.

13:36 poetry Poetry, fiction, non-fiction, science, literature.

13:42 This Even the smell is the same, so I can feel that this is just like library.

13:48 So, like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, like And To Kill a Mockingbird.

13:53 like All of the classics.

13:55 Huckleberry Cervantes here, like Is he POW?

14:01 Yes.

14:01 Yes.

14:03 [music]

14:01 The man working inside didn't appear to speak English.

14:05 I was speaking English and communicating with him through my translator.

14:10 So, he's Ukrainian?

14:18 He's Ukrainian, so why is he here?

14:21 The interaction between myself, my translator, the man working there,

14:26 and all of the guards in the library with us did not feel transparent.

14:31 He's not happy.

14:33 He's looking out at the guards.

14:34 Doesn't want to answer.

14:41 What is he saying?

14:42 Why are you asking?

14:43 You came Oh.

14:46 Uh hold on.

14:47 Hold on.

14:48 Um I'm Canadian journalist and I just want to know the story,

14:52 but mhm maybe they should stand outside.

14:56 So, we can talk to him.

14:58 I'm not sure that They won't.

15:00 for that, yeah.

15:01 So, did you ask When you asked him why he got captured,

15:04 he doesn't want to answer?

15:06 Yes.

15:07 But he's Ukrainian.

15:08 Yes, he's Ukrainian.

15:08 And he's in a Ukrainian POW camp.

15:11 So, did he defect?

15:13 Oh, he he's in this camp because he was captured as a Russian.

15:18 He was captured as a Russian.

15:20 military servant So, he was serving for the Russian military?

15:23 Did he say that?

15:25 Uh yes.

15:26 But I asked for the reason how he he got to Russian army.

15:32 But he was serving in the Russian army?

15:34 Yeah, because for example, yeah,

15:35 the main uh purpose of that the main reason is like forced mobilization.

15:40 If you uh if you got on occupied territories by Russia,

15:45 and someday they come and say, "Okay, we take you.

15:48 Now you you join the Russian army,

15:51 and you actually doesn't have any choice." So they forced him to join the army?

15:55 No, the the primal mobilization.

15:57 As we're about to leave, kind of looked him deeply in the eyes, I was like,

16:03 he started speaking English,

16:04 and he pretended that he didn't speak English at first,

16:07 and then told us a little bit about his story, but there's also only so much I

16:10 can ask because we are literally with government.

16:14 I know nothing about this man.

16:16 I couldn't ask him.

16:18 He likely wouldn't have answered if he committed atrocities,

16:22 if he himself was tortured.

16:25 In war, identity becomes complicated [music] very quickly.

16:30 Since Russia's full-scale invasion,

16:32 there have been documented cases of Ukrainians fighting within Russian units.

16:37 Some from occupied territories, [music] some coerced,

16:41 some of course aligned with Russia, and others [music] simply trying to survive.

16:48 You were Were you fighting in Russian I'm not fighting,

16:50 but I was in Russian army.

16:53 You were in the Russian army?

16:55 So you are here just because you was captured from Russian army,

17:00 like according to the law, let's say.

17:04 I I didn't capture by Ukrainian army.

17:07 I I surrendered.

17:09 Oh, you surrendered?

17:11 Yeah, to Ukrainian.

17:12 Mhm.

17:15 Have you spoken to your family since you've been here?

17:17 I can.

17:18 They let you.

17:19 How long have you been here?

17:22 More than 2 and 1/2 years.

17:27 More than 2 and 1/2 years.

17:28 Yeah.

17:29 That's a long time.

17:29 How old are you?

17:31 20 25.

17:33 No, 25.

17:35 25.

17:37 Thank you for chatting with me.

17:38 Is there anything that you want to say?

17:40 Any message for anyone watching?

17:44 A lot of people I don't know.

17:46 No?

17:46 Are you sure?

17:48 will see this.

17:49 My family know about me.

17:52 They know, yeah.

17:54 Thank you.

17:56 Are you good on the B-roll?

18:00 Bye.

18:00 Goodbye.

18:03 Okay, so that's a perfect example of how I knew if we asked the guards to leave,

18:08 then he he wants to talk.

18:09 You can typically tell when someone wants to talk.

18:11 This is a prisoner of war.

18:13 They have absolutely no one to talk to.

18:15 Nobody will ever know the true story of what's happening

18:18 here or what these people think or what's being done.

18:20 Who are these individuals, right?

18:22 Inside the camp, even admitting who you are can become dangerous.

18:28 No, can we just debrief the fact that what

18:32 just happened was absolutely crazy, to be honest.

18:35 I feel like I'm like in a movie.

18:39 I know you guys have seen me in a lot of crazy places, but I can't lie.

18:42 This is [music] by far by far This is by far, yeah.

18:47 Camera guy and I are both kind of like [music] woah.

18:52 We toured the camp towards the end

18:54 of our Ukraine assignment after having covered drones,

18:59 death, [music] everything that is textbook war.

19:02 But what became clear to me at this camp where there

19:06 was a sense of calm the underlying [music] tone was incredibly dark.

19:12 War doesn't end at the front lines.

19:14 [music] It extends into places like this, into the routines,

19:18 the waiting, into the lives [music] that are put on hold.

19:23 And sometimes it looks just like this.

19:27 Men in uniform, shaved heads facing down,

19:31 moving in silence one [music] after another, the same thing day in day out.

19:37 It's an image that carries [music] history with it,

19:40 whether it belongs here or not.

19:43 Because war doesn't just shape the present.

19:47 [music] It echoes.

19:48 It blurs lines between what we see and what we think we [music] understand.

19:54 So every morning at 9:00 a.m.

19:56 across Ukraine, uh they have this moment of silence for the fallen soldiers.

20:01 Everyone on the highway stop their car, gets out, stands up.

20:05 It's in total silence.

20:07 Um and even on the app that a lot of people here use to track uh air raids,

20:13 that app will also notify people of when

20:16 the moment of silence is about to happen.

20:26 OKAY, SO RIGHT NOW AS YOU CAN tell everyone

20:29 is stopped their car and standing outside of their cars.

20:33 This is a moment of silence for fallen soldiers in Ukraine.

20:40 We're on the highway and everyone is stopped, standing outside, silent.

20:48 Honestly, it's moments like this where you

20:50 realize how much tragedy is happening here.

20:55 Um and just how many people have died.

21:00 Some of the men here fought willingly.

21:02 Some of them even believed in it.

21:04 And some may have simply been pulled into it.

21:10 But here it doesn't [music] matter.

21:11 By orders, by circumstance,

21:14 by the kind of momentum that this invasion has created,

21:17 where individual choice becomes harder to trace,

21:21 even in speaking to these very individuals.

21:24 And standing [music] here, watching this, immersing myself in it,

21:30 it becomes difficult to separate who someone was before

21:33 [music] the war from who they are inside of it.

21:38 Because in the end, this invasion doesn't just redraw borders.

21:42 It rearranges people and leaves behind

21:45 [music] questions that don't have clear answers.