Lower thirds:

00:02 'Rasti' | Former POW
00:13 Report by Rebecca Ritters
00:46 'Rasti' | Elite soldier, Azov Brigade
01:08 'Rasti' | Former POW
03:21 'Rasti' | Elite soldier, Azov Brigade

Script:

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Former POW
A year before I got out of captivity I already knew I wanted to return [to the army].  
 
Rasti was twenty-four when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Already a soldier with Ukraine’s Azov brigade, he was sent to defend Mariupol — a strategic city under heavy attack. 

+++SOT 'Rasti', Former POW
Most of us realised… this might be the end. 

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Elite Soldier, Azov Brigade
In Mariupol, you don’t necessarily have to be special forces. The most important thing is not to be afraid and not freeze up. When you freeze, even a specialist can die easily or make a fatal mistake.

As the Russians took ground thousands of civilians and soldiers holed up in the Azovstal steel works, a vast industrial complex.

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Elite Soldier, Azov Brigade
They used scorched-earth tactics… At times it felt like they had more tanks than we had people. 

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Elite Soldier, Azov Brigade
They surrounded us within a week. By March 1 or 2, we were fully encircled.

Supplies soon ran out, civilians were evacuated, and the remaining soldiers were forced to surrender – taken into Russian captivity.

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Former POW
They beat me for about 12 hours; roughly four of those hours included electric shocks. They used an animal-grade stun device — like one used on dogs.

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Former POW
In captivity I sometimes forgot my mother’s name.

Rasti lost more than 30 kilos

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Former POW
They didn't want people like me to return. They tried to destroy us — and physically they managed to break me. 

The primary motivation is simple: survive.

After nearly thirty months, and to his surprise, Rasti’s name was added to a prisoner exchange list. 

 +++ SOT 'Rasti', Elite Soldier, Azov Brigade
When I left captivity, I realized all the information from the past two and a half years would hit me — and it did. I learned who among my friends and relatives had died, who was missing, who remained in captivity.

Freedom required an adjustment.

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Former POW
Psychologically… I constantly feel like I’m still in captivity.

He was determined to return to his brigade. 

Doctors told him to rest. His mother asked him not to.

But his decision had been made (long before). 

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Former POW
When they kept torturing me, my hatred for them grew. I was determined I would return to service. The sooner, the better. A year before I was released I already knew I would come back.

He now helps lead an elite reconnaissance unit with the Azov Brigade.

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Elite Soldier, Azov Brigade 
Our group was created by three former prisoners… we were together in Mariupol.

+++ SOT Rasti 
We’re universal fighters: raids, ambushes, behind the lines. 
Our unit will perform any tasks that come up. 

For younger recruits, Rasti is both a commander – and a reminder of the price they could pay. 

+++ SOT 'Rasti', Elite Soldier, Azov Brigade
I understand it’s a matter of fate, I could die even here easily. But I’m not going out there to die for nothing. I’m going to do my job — And to do it, I have to stay alive.

He’s more aware than ever that he could pay the highest price of all.+++