Tortured Ukrainian POW branded with ‘Glory to Russia’ vows to return to battle

A recently returned Ukrainian prisoner of war — whose Moscow captors medically tortured and branded him with a scar reading “Glory to Russia” — pledged to rejoin the fight as soon as he recovers from his wounds.

Andriy Pereverzev exclusively told The Post from his hospital bed in Ukraine that he would return with vengeance to the battle for his country’s freedom against Moscow after suffering macabre and humiliating treatment akin to the maniacal habits of Nazi doctor Joseph “Angel of Death” Mengele in Russian captivity.

“After I will be healed, I want to go back to protect and fight for the country — and I will join it with more fervor, kind of a thirst for revenge,” he vowed.

Pereverzev sustained severe injuries to his legs and abdomen when Russians struck him with a grenade ahead of his capture on the frontlines in February 2024.

He spent the next 11 months undergoing horrific medical procedures in captivity in Russian hospitals before he was sent to a POW camp and eventually traded in a prisoner exchange in May.

The Ukrainian soldier said he begged for death instead of capture as Russian forces closed in on him, having heard horror stories of how Moscow treats its prisoners of war.

But his soon-to-be captors told him they would receive a financial reward for bringing him back as a POW, so they took him to a prisoner hospital in Russia to receive “treatment” — which turned out to be a series of macabre procedures conducted on Ukrainian POWs.

Most medical procedures were done without anesthetics, he said. All were done while Pereverzev was awake, save for a surgery early in his detainment that left his torso heavily bandaged.

About two weeks after that procedure, Pereverzev discovered that under the bandages, his Russian surgeon had carved “Слава России” — Russian for “Slava Russia,” a bastardization of the Ukrainian battle cry, “Slava Ukraine” — in block letters on his stomach with a hot scalpel.

To the right of the phrase, the surgeon carved a “Z” — the symbol the Russian military uses to mark its equipment and troops in Ukraine — below Pereverzec’s naval.

“I asked them, ‘Why did you write this?’ Why don’t you create something special, something [unique to Russia.] There’s no original thought,” Pereverzev recalled, referring to the phrase.

“They said, ‘It’s my order and we are doing our order.’”

Pereverzev said the exchange was an example of why Kyiv is fighting so hard against Moscow — it is a fight to keep the Ukrainian people’s independence while President Vladimir Putin controls all in Russia.

“I said, so if they order you to hang yourself, what would be your reaction? They said, ‘It would mean I need to,’” he explained. “I said, ‘But it’s your destiny.’

“In Ukraine, we have freedom. In Russia, they do not.”

A love of country

His scars remain to this day, though Pereverzev’s doctors are giving him injections to reduce them so they can be safely removed once his other wounds are healed, he said.

”I cannot get revenge [on his Russian torturers] personally,” he said. “In general, what I want is revenge for what the Russians are doing — to push them off the battlefields and stop their missiles from flying through the air.

“It is hard for people who have never faced the war to understand, but it’s about the civilians who are suffering for nothing because Russians decided to send missiles to target the parents, grandparents and children of Ukraine. They are suffering,” Pereverzev said.

He also called for Ukrainians who fled the country after the war broke out to “come back to fight.”

Pereverzev’s fervor to get back on the battlefield exemplifies what experts say is a key strength Ukraine has over its aggressor — high morale and commitment to the fight.

”Pereverzev’s desire to return to the fight after being tortured in Russian captivity is reflective of Ukraine’s warrior culture, character and sense of obligation to defend the homeland against barbaric Russian war crimes,” the Atlantic Council’s Alex Plitsas told The Post on Monday. “It’s that same warrior culture and spirit that has carried Ukraine through this fight.

“Russia has committed unspeakable crimes, and Ukrainian soldiers I have spoken with have told me that they are fighting to protect their homes and families from the atrocities that Russia has inflicted on their countrymen wherever they have seized Ukrainian territory, to include systemic torture and sexual violence to extrajudicial killings,” he continued.

That resolve to continue to fend off Moscow is largely unique to Ukrainians — as studies indicate the majority of Russian soldiers do not understand why Putin continues to order them to their deaths en masse in Ukraine.

During The Post’s interviews with dozens of Russian POWs in Ukrainian captivity in March, each said their sole motivation to invade Ukraine was financial — not patriotism.

“There was a catastrophic shortage of money. And that is why we have so many soldiers in Russia. They are like me,” one Russian captive said.

Institute for the Study of War Russia team lead George Barros on Monday said Ukraine’s commitment to its country is a key part of Kyiv’s success.

“Individual Ukrainians continue to demonstrate exceptional resiliency despite the odds being stacked against them,” he told The Post on Monday.

Still, “bravery and self-sacrifice can only do so much,” he was quick to add.

“Additional weapon sales to Ukraine — at scale — are crucial for empowering such brave individuals while the war continues to rage on into its third, and soon fourth, year.