Former mayor of Kherson, released from captivity, spoke about Russia’s “plans” for him

In addition, he recalled the abuses of the occupiers that he experienced in captivity.

Volodymyr Mykolayenko, the former mayor of Kherson, who was released after three years in Russian captivity, told how the occupiers tried to persuade him to cooperate and appoint him to the position of “governor”.

“The Russians’ main task was to persuade me to cooperate. Before Saldo was even a “governor,” they told me, “You can take this place.” And when they were taking me to Sevastopol, it was around 4-5 in the morning, he (one of the FSB officers, – ed.) came out and said: “Well, haven’t you changed your mind? If you haven’t changed your mind, you’ll go to Sevastopol now, you’ll change your mind there in a month or two, you’ll recognize the new government, you’ll cooperate with us. And we’ll disband your SSO forces in a week or two,” he told the Most publication .

However, for “a month or two,” the occupiers failed to do anything, and the enemy also failed to “dismantle the SSO,” added the former mayor of Kherson, who was released from captivity.

Later, the Russians appointed their own “governor” of the Kherson region. He was a collaborator, Volodymyr Saldo. According to Mykolayenko, when he found out about this, he started laughing.

“I started laughing, and they asked: “Why are you laughing?” I said: “I know him, he offered to teach me bad things.” And they said: “But he won’t spoil us.” And I said: “But he hasn’t fooled around like that yet.” Then I saw that Stremousov appeared at their place. And then Kobets appeared. They said: “You didn’t agree, we found the mayor. What can you tell us?” I said that this was the first time I had heard of him. Then I realized that they had either removed Kolykhayev, or he had left himself. It was the end of April. Sometime before he was sent to Sevastopol,” the former mayor of Kherson recalled.

He also said that while he was in Russian captivity, he was beaten many times. In addition, he had several broken ribs. And once the invaders took him out to be shot.

“They put me against the wall, they said, ‘We’re going to shoot you now.’ I said, ‘Come on,’ and stood against the wall. They asked me if I wasn’t scared. I said I was scared, I didn’t want to die, but I fulfilled my family duty – to continue the family – I have two grandchildren. The time has come – so the time has come. One started shooting at the wall, the others started shouting, ‘Shut up!'” Volodymyr Mykolayenko recalls.

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Recall, on August 24, 2025, a prisoner exchange took place between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Soldiers of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Service, and civilians returned home. Most of them had been in captivity since 2022. The exact number of people released from Russian captivity was not disclosed.

It should be noted that UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khylyuk , who was captured by the Russians in the Kyiv region at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, also returned to Ukraine that day.

(c)UNIAN 2025