"Can he be exchanged for Kardash?" Wife of Ukrainian, kidnapped 11 years ago in Donetsk, tells her husband's story

Oleg Shevandin. Photo from Larysa's personal archive

She shared with "Belsat" memories of how the occupation of Donetsk began, when she last saw her husband, and what gives her the strength to keep reminding the world about him.

"He went for his mother and promised to return soon"

Larysa's husband — Oleg Shevandin — is a well-known sports figure, president of the Donetsk region Wushu Federation, entrepreneur, and honorary citizen of the city. In the spring of 2015, he was kidnapped by Russian servicemen in the occupied territory of Donbas. Since then, there has been no official information about his fate: Oleg is considered missing and remains on the exchange lists.

Before the war, the family lived in Donetsk, after the occupation they moved to Debaltseve — hoping it would be temporary. But the city came under heavy shelling, apartments were destroyed, and parents had to be urgently evacuated. The attempt to return for his mother at the end of April - beginning of May 2015 was fatal for Oleg: at a checkpoint, he was detained by special forces, a bag was put over his head and handcuffs on his wrists, and later he was declared an "Ukrainian spy." Some time later, his wife was informed that the FSB was dealing with him.

From the Ukrainian side, Oleg's case is currently handled by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. The occupying side of the so-called "DPR" once confirmed that Oleg was in Donetsk, but now replies that it is "clarifying his whereabouts." Oleg's case is called "inconvenient": he was captured not by the "MGB DPR," but by Russian servicemen, who "officially weren't there" at the time.

Before leaving for his mother, Oleg contacted a former subordinate — the director of the Debaltseve Sports Palace — to clarify the situation in the city and the entry route. Later it turned out that this person passed information to Russian servicemen and informed them about the family's planned arrival, says Larysa Shevandina.

They arrived in Debaltseve late in the evening, after curfew. At the checkpoint near the house, they were thoroughly checked, but eventually let through. The apartment turned out to be half-destroyed — the walls had been pierced by a direct "Grad" hit. They spent the night there. In the morning, the woman felt unwell, couldn't get up, and Oleg decided to go alone to look for his mother: he promised to return soon, pick up his wife — and together leave the city.

This was the last time Larysa saw her husband free.

Павялічыць

"I heard his voice and understood: he's holding on"

After Oleg left, his phone would sometimes appear on the network, sometimes disappear. At first, the woman thought that the connection was not working due to shelling. But when she called her son in Kyiv, he informed her: acquaintances from Debaltseve said that their car was already in the hands of Russian servicemen.

In the following days, Oleg was allowed to answer calls briefly several times. He didn't say anything specific — it was clear that the conversations were monitored. But his wife heard his voice and understood: he was holding on. On the second day, she contacted the so-called "law enforcement agencies of the DPR" with a statement about the kidnapping of her husband and car. She was immediately informed that Oleg was at the military headquarters. The car was standing nearby — it was even photographed.

Later, the woman learned the details of the detention: Oleg was stopped at a checkpoint by special forces, forcibly pulled out of the car, a bag was put over his head and handcuffs on his wrists. First, he was taken outside the city — to a military base for "interrogation," after which he was returned. He was accused of "espionage for Ukraine" and they claimed that maps of the Luhansk region and a flash drive with information were allegedly found in the car — which, according to his wife, was not true. Later, Oleg was transferred to Donetsk and she was informed that the FSB was handling his case.

"I stayed in Donetsk for another six months to gather as much data as possible," Larysa says. "I know a lot about interrogations, tortures, about blackmail with family. They showed him videos with me and said: if you don't sign the documents — 'something will happen to us.' I can't tell everything — the sources are not public."

Павялічыць

Larysa Shevandina

"He evacuated people under shelling"

The woman recalls how Russia's occupation of Donbas began. Pro-Russian "activists" and camps of Kuban Cossacks appeared in Donetsk. At the same time, a strong pro-Ukrainian movement existed in the city itself. However, rallies were increasingly surrounded by "titushky" who were brought in by buses from Russia. ("Titushky" — hired thugs in civilian clothes. They were used to beat and intimidate participants of pro-Ukrainian actions. The name comes from the surname of one of the first known participants in such attacks — Vadym Titushko. — Ed.).

Then open hostilities began — the capture of Horlivka, the appearance of armed formations in Sloviansk. Larysa says that in the summer of 2014, in Debaltseve, the family saw with their own eyes a minibus with a cut-out roof, from which mortar fire was directed at the city: residential buildings and the market were burning. In the winter of 2015, Russian troops cut power lines — in twenty-degree frost, Debaltseve was left without electricity, water, and heating. People hid in basements.

At this time, Oleg began to evacuate civilians in his own seven-seater jeep: the elderly, families with children. He delivered medicines, food, candles, phone chargers. The only evacuation route through Svitlodarsk was constantly under fire. Once their car came under "Grad" attack — the car literally bounced from the explosions, but Oleg continued driving because he had given his word to people to help, his wife Larysa says.

Before the war, he headed the Donetsk Region Wushu Federation, which he created from scratch in 1996, turning it into one of Ukraine's strongest sports structures. In December 2014, Oleg did what his wife calls an "act of defiance": he gathered a national team from occupied Donetsk and Horlivka and brought them to Kyiv for the Ukrainian Cup. The team competed under the Ukrainian flag and became champions. The occupying authorities did not forgive this: the so-called "Minister of Sports" demanded cooperation from Oleg, but he refused.

Also in Donetsk, the family had their own business — a network of household and computer equipment stores, as well as a photo studio. All of this was either destroyed or seized. As the woman says, they could only watch online as equipment and goods were taken from their stores.

Larysa recounts that she and Oleg met in school: she was 15, he was 17. It happened during a general school trip to the forest at the end of the school year — the class teachers agreed to hold it together. That's where their story began.

Their relationship quickly became known throughout the school — as Larysa recalls, everything happened somehow very publicly. Four years later, they got married and have not been separated since. Over decades of living together, she learned to feel her husband so deeply that, according to her, she understood his state even when he just kept silent on the phone.

"I've dreamed of an embrace all these years"

When asked how Larysa lived almost 11 years without Oleg, she replies: "A strange reality."

"For me, everything that happened to my husband is like yesterday. Everything is aimed at his liberation. Of course, our son with Oleg helps a lot, he has become my main support.

Павялічыць

Larysa and Oleg

I head the public organization Ukraine Movement. Return Freedom: we organize actions all over the world, meet with ambassadors from France, Germany, Canada, explain who civilian hostages are. They cannot be exchanged under the Geneva Convention because they are not combatants. Russia holds them 'incommunicado' — without contact with relatives and without lawyers. This is one of the harshest forms of torture.

I myself moved to Germany with my parents for their safety — for them, this is already the third war. My mother still remembers the Nazi occupation. My father died a year ago… He would have lived if not for these events," she says.

The woman says that the organization's logo features two silhouettes, a man and a woman. And it's not just an embrace: the woman literally clings to her beloved, as if afraid to let go. Larysa admits that she has dreamed of this embrace all the years of waiting.

Oleg loves water and the ocean very much, so she hopes that after his return they can travel together — it doesn't matter where, the main thing is to be together again.

She also appeals to the Ukrainian leadership to use every opportunity to free her husband, including through an exchange.

"I want to address President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kyrylo Budanov, Dmytro Usau: consider any possibility of an exchange. There is a Belarusian spy, Inna Kardash, detained in Ukraine — perhaps she can be exchanged for my husband? We grasp at every chance," she concludes.

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