Reported by
Ukrainian soldier Andriy Pereverziev said he “went crazy” after surgery in a hospital in Russian-occupied territory left him with the words “Glory to Russia” branded on his stomach.
Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation under a section of the criminal code that covers war crimes.
Now, the investigative unit of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service, Schemes, has revealed an intensely pro-Russian sentiment among workers at the hospital.
Many have posted to social media in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Russia has issued some doctors there with passports, and some have joined President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party.
Schemes cited comments from a Russian trauma surgeon who described his reaction to treating Ukrainian captives while visiting the hospital as a volunteer.
“I was not prepared for the reaction when a person who purposefully wants to destroy us is brought to me, and that I will need to provide him with medical care,” he said in an interview with a pro-Kremlin video blogger.
Russian politicians and other public figures have visited to drum up support for the war, Schemes reported. The hospital has hosted members of a Russian volunteer doctors group — including two surgeons who were present at the hospital when Pereverziev was disfigured during his operation.
It is not known who actually branded the slogan into Pereverziev’s stomach, along with the letter Z, which has been used as a pro-Russian symbol since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
One of the surgeons from the volunteer group denied taking part in the surgery, and said the help he provided at the hospital was only “consultative.” Reporters were not able to reach the other surgeon.
Evidence including social media posts, travel data, and images from the hospital compound indicate that the surgeons were in Donetsk on February 24, 2024 — the date the branding is believed to have occurred. These included posts describing a weekend trip and a photo where that date appears circled on a calendar.
Pereverziev was captured by Russian troops after being badly wounded in battle. He alleged that he was repeatedly beaten and interrogated before being brought to the hospital for surgery. He was returned to Ukraine after being released in a prisoner exchange in May 2025.
Pereverziev didn’t discover that he had been disfigured until a week after the surgery, Schemes reported, citing comments to United 24, a Ukrainian government-run media outlet. When he saw the slogans branded into his stomach, he “just went crazy,” he told United 24.
Ukrainian medical experts told Schemes the burns were consistent with a tool that uses electricity to make cuts and cauterize wounds.
Pereverziev told Schemes that staff at the facility referred to it as the Republican Clinical Hospital.
Reporters uncovered additional information to verify that he was indeed treated at that hospital in Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine that is occupied by Russia. Occupying Russian authorities had changed the name of the facility from the Donetsk Clinical Territorial Medical Association, known by its Ukrainian-language acronym as DOKTMO.
Schemes also reported that, at a different Donetsk hospital where Pereverziev was later taken, nurses discussed among themselves that his main surgery had been performed by a Russian doctor.
According to the Schemes report, DOKTMO was headed for years by Tetyana Bakhteeva, a former Ukrainian member of parliament associated with the Russia-leaning Party of Regions, and later the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc.
From 2014 until April 2024, the facility was run by Natalia Momot, Bakhteeva’s former parliamentary aide. Schemes described Bakhteeva — a former Party of Regions lawmaker — as an ally of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was widely seen as pro-Kremlin.
Pereverziev’s case drew international attention in June 2025 after images of the scars appeared online. The Kyiv Independent, an OCCRP partner, reported that Ukrainian officials confirmed the photo was authentic and said doctors were working to remove the burn marks.
Schemes’ reporting fits into a broader pattern of allegations about medical personnel committing abuses against captured Ukrainians. In July 2025, OCCRP and Schemes identified a Russian prison medic nicknamed “Dr. Evil” by former detainees. The detainees described beatings, humiliation, and the denial of treatment inside a penal colony.
