"I would ask my captors if they were going to rape me. 'No.' Were they going to kill me? 'No.' Then a man told me in a very serious tone, 'We will bury you alive.' And for three months I thought they would indeed bury me alive." Ukrainian journalist and Maidan activist Irma Krat still finds it difficult to talk about the 77 days she spent in captivity after being captured on April 20 by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: ‘It’d be better to die’ – Ukrainian journalist talks about ordeals in captivity
The soot-stained passport and press card of Ukrainian journalist Irma Krat, recovered inside the Sloviansk regional headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine. For nearly three months, the SBU building served as command center for the Kremlin-backed insurgents. Ukrainian forces liberated the city of 120,000 people on July 5. In the SBU building, dozens of people were held captive for months before the Ukrainian military operation set them free and sent the separatists fleeing to Donetsk.
