LVIV REGION, Ukraine — From the outside, it did not look like a prison. The tall cement walls surrounding the compound matched similar gates and gardens across the small community in western Ukraine, a few dozen miles from the Polish border.
But the camp inside was filled with Russian prisoners of war in identical dark blue jumpsuits adorned with the words “Educational Colony” stamped on the back.
The men slept in large rooms with bunk beds covered in checkered blankets, each spot labeled with the name and photo of its occupant. A regimented schedule divided their time in the former low-security local prison — a 6 a.m. wake-up call, meals at regular intervals, and free time outside in the courtyard or in front of the TV in the recreation room.
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None of them knew how long they would be at the camp, or forced to walk through hallways adorned with Ukrainian historical figures and national slogans in direct opposition to the propaganda fueling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s narratives about the war.
As the full-scale war has dragged on for almost two years, a growing number of captured Russian forces and a freeze in prisoner swaps have led to more and more POW camps like this one popping up across the country. While the official number of Russian POWs in Ukraine is not public, experts estimate that thousands of soldiers have been captured over the course of the war.
