A Ukrainian teenager who was kidnapped and shipped to Russia has vowed to kill tryant Vladimir Putin in revenge.
Serhii Cherednichenko, 17, was taken by Russian soldiers in 2022. They smashed his legs with a hammer and bolted his ankles together when he attempted to escape.
He is one of the thousands of children kidnapped by Putin’s forces during their invasion of Ukraine, taken from his town of Valuyki in the Belgorod region.
The teenager told the Sun that he was forced to follow a group of Russian soldiers, fearing they would make him dig a deep pit and sit inside it for days, a Russian punishment.
He was told he was an orphan and kept in a dormitory. Held hostage in Chernyanka, he endured psychological torture and brainwashing.
Serhii, a professional footballer, began planning his escape, memorising bus routes and saving money.
He tried three times to get to the border, only to be sent back. He said: “On the fourth time, they took me down to the basement at the checkpoint. They checked my phone for three hours.
“They found out that I was a football player. They hit my legs with a hammer, my ankles with a bolt…They held me for 4-5 hours.
“Then they took me out and said: ‘Go wherever you want’. I saw a yellow sign saying “Ukraine” and went in that direction. It was evening, it was raining, it was cold. I thought I was walking very fast but I wasn’t.
“When you walk through this ‘grey’ zone and turn back you don’t know what to expect, it’s scary… that was probably the scariest moment.
“When you walk and you don’t know if you’re going to lie down here or if you’re going to walk. Thank God, it happened like this.
“A Ukrainian border guard came out. I asked him to call my parents. I asked for a drink, my head was spinning. It was strange to realise that I had put so much effort and finally succeeded. At home.”
Children are kidnapped, subjected to “information zombification” and told they’ve been abandoned by their parents in an attempt to erase Ukrainian culture.
An estimated 20,000 have been taken since the start of the war.
Serhii is eager to join the Ukrainian Army in four months, vowing to kill Putin, saying: “There will be revenge, and it will be served cold.
“Life is such that everything comes around. I hope he will receive what he’s brought to the world.
“I’ve never said this to anyone before – I hope it [Putin] dies a dog’s death, his children suffer just like him, and let him f*****g burn in hell.
“I hope I’ll see him someday. I’ll kill him instantly.”
