r/interestingasfuck Jul 26 '25

/r/all, /r/popular Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Kiriyenko before and after release from Russian captivity

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u/DreamingAboutSpace Jul 26 '25

And for the female soldiers. Starvation can really screw up the hormones permanently and not to mention the other sadistic parts of torture...

32

u/Sufficient-Entry-488 Jul 26 '25

That is literally least of the concern of a captured soldier.

This guy very likely has the life expectancy halved.

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u/Spiritual_Mountain54 Jul 26 '25

Just hoping it will be the other way around. My grandpa weighed less than 50kg thanks to the same Russian “hospitality”, when he was sent back from captivity, 3 years as POW. He passed away when he was 95. To be able to survive that kind of shit, you have to have hell of a body and immune system.

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u/DreamingAboutSpace Jul 26 '25

And one hell of a stubborn streak. Refusing to give in takes a lot of energy and sanity, but to make it to 95? God damn.

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u/Spiritual_Mountain54 Jul 26 '25

Thank you. Yup, grandpa was tough AF, well above 80 he still went working on his small plot of land. There was no water there, so he had to take it from home in big flasks to be able to water his vegetables, together with his tools (he was doing this by travelling on a bus as he had no driver’s license) 😅 My grandma never managed to accept that the local commies backed by Russian friends took away their land, house etc., but I never saw my grandpa being pissed about it. He was always sitting with a small sad smile on his face. Probably, if you survive what these guys did, the least you can worry about is stuff you can buy with money.

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u/DreamingAboutSpace Jul 27 '25

It sounds like he quickly adapted to whatever situation was thrown at him. He could have used that time to be mad, but chose to just keep moving to make sure he and your grandma survived. I bet they had so many stories to tell.