RSF: Soldier released from captivity said he saw journalist Dmytro Khyliuk in Russian penal colony
Vlad, a Ukrainian soldier from the 36th Marine Brigade who was recently released from Russian captivity, says he saw journalist Dmytro Khyliuk in penal colony No. 7 in the village of Pakino in Russia's Vladimir Oblast in early May 2025. Khyliuk, a correspondent for the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, was abducted by Russian forces more than three years ago.
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Details: In an interview with RSF, Vlad said he encountered Khyliuk by chance in the corridor of the colony – most likely as he was on his way to the medical centre. He had no visible signs of beatings, but the journalist's condition was very concerning.
Vlad was captured within the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, and in October 2022, he was transferred to penal colony No. 7 in Pakino. According to RSF, Khyliuk was taken there in May 2023. In August 2023, he and Vlad spent a day in the same cell, though the journalist did not say a word that day.
Vlad recalled that cell No. 8, where Khyliuk was held, is located in Block 3 – the one with the harshest conditions. There, according to former prisoners, Ukrainian military personnel and civilians are routinely beaten and starved.
One of the former prisoners, who spent a year in a cell with Khyliuk, told RSF that the journalist was unrecognisable – he weighed no more than 45 kg. Vlad considers this assessment to be accurate.
"After over three years of living in the nightmare of Russian prisons, Dmytro Khyliuk continues to suffer abuse and food deprivation," said Arnaud Froger, Head of the RSF Investigation Desk. "As prisoner exchanges have multiplied in recent months between the two countries, it is unacceptable that this journalist, who is in a state of chronic malnutrition, is still in custody. We call for his immediate and unconditional release before his situation deteriorates further and it becomes too late."
Vlad said that conditions in the colony improved slightly at the end of 2024 following a visit from a delegation led by Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova. But in 2025, the situation had deteriorated again – food had become even more scarce, and access to medical treatment was limited, particularly due to regular outbreaks of scabies.
RSF estimates that there may still be around 300 Ukrainians in the colony. In total, at least 29 Ukrainian journalists are being held in Russia.
Background:
- Khyliuk was abducted by Russian forces on 3 March 2022 near his home in the village of Kozarovychi in Kyiv Oblast. He was then taken through Belarus to Novozybkov in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast, the main destination for civilians captured in Kyiv Oblast during the occupation.
- On 9 July 2024, Ukrainian Parliamentary Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets announced at a briefing that Ukraine had unofficial information about the whereabouts of Khyliuk, who had been abducted by Russian military personnel.
- In April 2025, Ukrainian journalists and media representatives called on the authorities to swap Kirill Molchanov, a Russian asset and "political expert" from the entourage of pro-Russian former Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, for Ukrainian journalist Khyliuk, who has been in Russian captivity for over three years.
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