A Ukrainian soldier who fled his destroyed position on the frontline inadvertently stumbled into a Russian dugout, where he was held captive for two weeks by a single enemy soldier. Vadym Lietunov, a 34-year-old corporal from Odesa, had been sheltering with a comrade near the front when a drone-dropped mine blew off his colleague's legs and destroyed their foxhole.
Lietunov ran towards what he thought were Ukrainian lines but found a Russian soldier, Nikita, inside a fortified position. Nikita, a former convict and drug addict freed to fight, ordered him into a tiny underground chamber and said he would not shoot him. However, he did not release him the next morning as promised, and Lietunov lived in constant fear of execution.
Over the following days, the two soldiers shared the cramped space. Nikita, cold and hungry, received only 250 grams of rations daily via drone. He suffered extreme mood swings, at one point putting a gun to Lietunov's forehead before suddenly lowering it. Lietunov played dumb to gain trust, even refusing to escape to appear compliant. When his toe turned black with gangrene, he asked to be shot outside so his body could be recovered, but Nikita refused, fearing the danger outside.
Lietunov's brigade, the 118th, believed he was dead. His commander told his mother it was '95% certain' he would not return. After two weeks, a Russian drone operator spotted movement near the dugout and reported it. Ukrainian forces launched an attack, and in the chaos, Lietunov escaped. He later said he survived by manipulating his captor, using psychology he had read as a teenager.
