Volodymyr Tsema-Bursov

A bald-headed man buries his face in a Ukraine flag and cell phone

‘I think they did this to break our will’: Freed Ukrainian POW tells his story

Ukraine

Volodymyr Tsema-Bursov is from the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol. A few months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he was captured by Russian forces. He spent the next 20 months in Russian captivity. Now he’s back in Ukraine after being released in the biggest prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The World’s Daniel Ofman reports from Lviv.