Sri Lankan captives tell of torture at hands of Russian forces

Four of the seven were medical students in the city of Kupiansk and three were working there when Russian forces poured across the border in late February

The seven Sri Lankans were held captive by Russian forces in an agricultural factory in eastern Ukraine (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A group of Sri Lankans held captive by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine said on Saturday that they were beaten and abused for months before escaping on foot as the Russians withdrew from the Kharkiv region this month.

Recounting their ordeal to reporters in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, one of the seven Sri Lankans said he was shot in the foot; another had his toenail ripped off and was slammed in the head with the butt of a rifle.