Ukrainian POW branded with Glory to Russia says torture left him begging for death

A Ukrainian prisoner of war who was branded with “Glory to Russia” has recalled begging his captors to kill him rather than take him in and torture him.Andriy Pereverzev told United24 he was severely wounded on the battlefield when he was dragged to prison by Russian troops in February last year.“While they were carrying me, I kept asking them, ‘Finish me off.Just end it,'” he said in the new interview of his torture.“But they didn’t.”Pereverzev said he was branded with “Glory to Russia” with a “metal cautery tool,” showing the jagged scars on the right side of his abdomen.He said he awoke disoriented from the horrific procedure and hadn’t realized what the wound was until two Russian guards changed his dressings, leaving him “gasping.”He was also subjected to several other sick tortures, including one dubbed “Calling Putin,” where an old phone is used to deliver devastating electric shocks to the hands, feet and genitals.“Then they crank the phone handle, lift the receiver, and there is this old Soviet-style rotary dial on it … the higher the number you dial from 0 to 9, the stronger the electric current,” he explained.

“And with each number, the power increases a lot.”The prisoner of war, who was returned home earlier this year, was repeatedly shocked and brutally beaten by Russian soldiers.“They used electric shocks on my open wounds a couple of times, and I started blacking out again,” he explained.“Three hits to the head with a filled five-liter plastic bottle.My hands were tied, my eyes were covered.”Pereverzev and other soldiers were also forced to recite the Russian national anthem in captivity.“The guards came in and asked us to recite the Russian national anthem … those who didn’t know it were beaten until they couldn’t get up,” he said.After suffering the horrific torture, Pereverzev weighed 35 pounds less when he returned home to his 9-year-old daughter.She “didn’t recognize me, but I r...