A 34-year-old Ukrainian paramedic from Zaporizhzhia, Olesya Melnychenko, has shared her experience of being held captive by Russian forces for 8.5 months. She described enduring torture, starvation, and contaminated water in detention facilities in Olenivka and Taganrog.

Melnychenko stated that the most difficult aspect of her captivity was not her personal suffering but the constant sounds of her fellow soldiers being tortured. Despite her experiences and subsequent rehabilitation, she has returned to service in the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) and is now working as a military psychologist.