Brit captured by Russians reveals how he was beaten, stabbed and electrocuted

A British national captured by the Russians during fighting in Ukraine has spoken out about the torture he suffered at the hands of his captors, which left him unable to walk.

Shaun Pinner was one of five Britons released from Russian custody in a prisoner exchange in September, after being captured in Mariupol during the early months of the war.

During an interview with Sky’s Beth Rigby, Pinner opened up about the details of his time as a POW and shared his thoughts on the ongoing conflict.

Recalling the time when the Russians crossed the border during the first invasion of Ukraine, Mr Pinner said: “Your adrenaline is running out. You’re nervous, you’re scared.

“You know people who say they are not afraid. I was shocked. You know, it’s Russia.”

Mr Pinner, from Bedfordshire, was serving with the Ukrainian army in Melitopol when he was arrested by the Russians and eventually sentenced to death in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine.

During his incarceration, his captors stabbed, beat, and killed him to force a confession from the POW.

According to Mr Pinner, he was repeatedly asked by the Russians whether he was a Nazi, an SAS soldier or an MI6 agent and was severely beaten for not answering.

He says his captors cut his clothes off his body to find the right tattoos before stabbing him in the leg.

“I screamed… and then 200 volts went through me in the chair, checked my leg, and I literally got up and he killed me in there,” he said.

“You feel like your muscles are popping out of your body.

“And the next day my legs were very pumped up. Blood leaked from the capillaries in my legs.

“When I took off my thermals, my leg was bleeding from the electric shock and my legs were so swollen I couldn’t walk.”

In an earlier interview, Mr. Pinner how he was forced to survive on dirty water and stale bread during his captivity.

He also said his captors forced him to listen to ABBA and Slipknot songs 24 hours a day and would beat him if he slept outside the hours set by the guards.

“I never want to hear an Abba song again,” he told The Sun. “I hated her anyway, so it was really torture.

“One of the guards said he would kill me and send the video to my mother.

“They brutally stole my wedding ring. It was my darkest day.”

Asked by Rigby for his opinion on the war, Mr Pinner said it was vital that Britain continued to support Ukraine militarily and also asked the Defense Ministry to provide the fighter jets requested by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Elsewhere in the interview, he said that now is not the right time for Ukraine to start peace talks with Russia

“One of the things I say to people is how much of America, Norway or Britain would you be willing to lose to talk about peace?

“I doubt America would budge an inch, especially Britain.

“You know, Ukraine is exactly the same.

“If we give an inch now, they’ll come back in three years, five years, push a little bit more — like they did with Crimea.”

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