Russia-Ukraine warfare: How a Russian couple helped Ukraine’s warfare effort

It was shortly after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 that Sergei and Tatyana Voronkov determined they would go away Russia.

The couple, who had lengthy been crucial of Vladimir Putin, had condemned the actions of Russia to pals and acquaintances. In response, they had been advised that in the event that they did not prefer it they might go away.

So the couple, each Russian residents, determined to relocate to Ukraine, the place Tatyana was born.

In 2019 they ultimately settled in Novolyubymivka, a village of about 300 folks within the south-eastern Zaporizhzhia area.

The couple acquired 4 canine and began elevating livestock, whereas Sergei, 55, additionally discovered work as a land surveyor – his specialism throughout his time within the Soviet military.

They hoped for a quiet life. But when Moscow launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the peace of their new lives was shattered by the primary Russian rockets flying over their house.

“I heard one thing whistling, one thing flying, and I went outdoors,” Tatyana, 52, remembers.

“A rocket was flying proper over the home.

“I went on the web to see what had occurred they usually wrote that Kyiv had already been bombed.”

The couple rapidly discovered themselves in occupied territory, and determined to turn into informants for Ukraine.

What adopted was detention, interrogation, an escape into Europe – and a letter of thanks from the Ukrainian military.

It was when a Russian convoy handed their house for the primary time that Tatyana determined to behave.

She ran inside and messaged an acquaintance in Kyiv, whom she believed had contacts in Ukraine’s safety companies.

The contact despatched her a hyperlink to a chatbot on messaging app Telegram which advised her they might be contacted by an individual with a singular identifier.

The couple had been then requested to supply the situation and particulars of Russian digital warfare methods and army {hardware} that they had seen, notably missile methods and tanks.

The places would assist the Ukrainian military goal and destroy Russian troops within the space with drones and artillery.

“We did not consider it as treason,” says Tatyana, who together with Sergei insists the data they gave didn’t lead to any strikes on civilians or civilian infrastructure.

“Nobody attacked Russia. This was a struggle in opposition to evil.”

For two years, Sergei would accumulate coordinates and Tatyana would transmit them from her telephone – eradicating all traces of the messages afterwards – as and when their village’s web entry allowed them to take action.

But all of this got here to an finish when Sergei was detained in April 2024 by armed males whereas he was searching for gardening seeds within the regional centre of Tokmak.

Sergei says he was taken to an deserted home and put in a chilly basement pit – round two metres extensive and three metres deep – the place he slept in a squatting place.

The subsequent day he was questioned about whether or not he had handed particulars of Russian positions to the Ukrainians. Sergei says a bag was saved over his head through the interrogation and he was threatened with violence.

After initially denying his involvement, Sergei confessed on the fourth day of his captivity, fearing that if he had been subjected to violence he may accidently implicate others.

While all of this was taking place, Tatyana was desperately looking for data on his whereabouts.

She travelled the world and phoned hospitals and morgues, whereas the couple’s son, who was nonetheless dwelling close to Moscow, contacted varied authorities there.

Ten days after Sergei’s arrest, safety forces searched the Voronkovs’ house and dug up $4,400 that had been hidden by the couple of their backyard.

Shortly after, Tatyana was advised that her husband was “sitting in a basement” and was with Russia’s safety companies, the FSB.

Weeks later, after 37 days in captivity, Sergei was made to admit to helping Ukraine on digital camera by individuals who launched themselves to him as FSB.

But to his shock, he was launched two days later, although virtually all of his paperwork, together with his passport, had been confiscated.

To this present day, Sergei and Tatyana don’t perceive why he was launched.

However, the BBC understands this isn’t unusual in components of Ukraine occupied by Russia, the place investigative and judicial processes lack transparency and infrequently no explanations are given as to why an individual is detained or launched.

In the weeks after Sergei’s launch, the couple consider they had been saved underneath surveillance, with vehicles consistently driving as much as their house and strangers asking them in the event that they had been promoting something.

Believing they’d by no means be left alone, the couple started plotting a method to go away.

After consulting human rights activists, Sergei and Tatyana determined to attempt to journey to Lithuania. But to try this, they wanted to return to Russia first to get Sergei a brand new passport.

Their neighbours in Novolyubymivka helped by shopping for livestock and family home equipment from them. The couple even managed to discover a new house for his or her canine, which Sergei says was his greatest fear.

The couple set off of their automobile.

Fearing they may very well be pulled over and quizzed by Russian forces, they made up a canopy story about going to the seashore to get recent air for Tatyana, who has bronchial asthma. They even introduced a straw hat and a rubber ring to make the story extra convincing.

But in the long run they weren’t stopped.

The couple had been initially denied entry into Russia, however had been ultimately in a position to enter after Sergei acquired a certificates proving he had utilized for a brand new passport.

After delays in getting his passport and a thwarted try to depart Russia through Belarus, Sergei purchased a pretend passport by Telegram.

The couple had been then in a position to journey by bus to Belarus and cross the border utilizing Sergei’s cast doc. From there, they crossed into Lithuania, a member of the European Union and an in depth ally of Ukraine, although Sergei was detained for holding cast paperwork.

He was later discovered responsible of utilizing a pretend passport by a Lithuanian court docket.

The couple are actually dwelling in a shelter for asylum seekers and hope to settle in Lithuania.

The Ukrainian military despatched them a letter of thanks – on the request of their former handler in Kyiv – to help their utility for asylum. The BBC has seen a replica of the letter.

The BBC has additionally seen paperwork from official our bodies in each Russia and Ukraine that verify what occurred to the Voronkovs. We aren’t reproducing them to guard the identities of these concerned.

The Voronkovs’ actions have brought about deep rifts within the household.

Their son, who stays in Russia, stopped speaking to his dad and mom after studying what that they had accomplished.  Sergei’s mom, who’s 87, nonetheless lives in Russia and is supportive of the warfare and President Putin.

But regardless of this, the couple are adamant they are going to by no means return to Russia.

“Only if it begins exhibiting some humanity,” Sergei says.

“For now, I see nothing human there.”