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🇻🇪 Venezuela /Crime & Justice

Ukrainian POW Recited Harry Potter to Sustain Fellow Prisoners During Four Years of Captivity

From El Nacional · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Ukrainian Major Oleksandr Ivanov survived four years as a Russian prisoner of war, enduring harsh conditions and propaganda.
  • He used his memory of the Harry Potter series to maintain morale and hope among fellow prisoners.
  • Ivanov's wife received brief messages, which helped her understand that Ukraine was still fighting, offering him a reason to endure.

For four years, Ukrainian Marine Major Oleksandr Ivanov's world was confined to a small, damp concrete cell in a Russian penal colony. Captured during the fierce fighting for Mariupol, his captivity was marked by isolation, relentless propaganda, and the constant uncertainty of his family's fate and his country's survival.

His wife, Nelly, recalls his final, agonizing call before his capture: "This is the last time I will have contact with you." Days later, a short text message confirmed his worst fears. During his three years in a Mordovian penal colony, Ivanov shared a cramped cell with eight other men. They spent most of their time standing, with minimal facilities and a shared roll of toilet paper each week. Their allowed "walks" lasted only two to five minutes, and the food was so poor that Ivanov lost 30 kilograms.

This is the last time I will have contact with you.

— Oleksandr IvanovHis wife Nelly recalls his final words before being captured.

Adding to the psychological torment, guards confiscated mail and broadcast constant propaganda claiming Ukraine no longer existed. Radio broadcasts spewed misinformation, attempting to break the prisoners' spirit. The conditions slightly improved in the final year, but the mockery from guards persisted. Ivanov managed to send only one voice message to his wife, a brief three-sentence message. Her equally brief reply, mentioning their son's birthday and a trip to the cinema, provided a crucial glimmer of hope, suggesting that life, and by extension Ukraine, was still functioning.

Despite the bleak reality, Ivanov found a way to sustain himself and his fellow prisoners: he recited the Harry Potter series from memory. This shared act of storytelling provided a mental escape and a source of comfort in their dire circumstances. Meanwhile, Nelly pieced together information about her husband's status from soldiers released in prisoner exchanges, who had memorized details of their fellow captives. The story of Major Ivanov is a testament to resilience and the enduring power of human connection and imagination even in the darkest of times.

I realized then that if the children of Mykolaiv, not far from the front, were going to the cinema, it meant that everything was fine in Ukraine.

— Oleksandr IvanovReflecting on the hope he gained from his wife's brief message about everyday life continuing in Ukraine.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Nacional in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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