A Ukrainian army medic was captured by Russian troops, raped in custody, and put on trial for terrorism. Her sons ended up on opposite sides of the war. Here’s what happened to her family.

Liliia Prutian, a former Ukrainian army medic captured by Russian forces early in the full-scale invasion, was raped in custody and later tried on terrorism charges before being released in a prisoner swap without a verdict. Her three sons ended up scattered by the war: one served in Ukraine's military, one enlisted with Russia's, and her youngest survived alone for three years in occupied territory as a teenager with diabetes.

Prutian eventually paid smugglers to get her youngest son out through Russia, Belarus and Poland to reunite with her in Kyiv in 2025. She now works a desk job for the Ukrainian army in Dnipro, living with her eldest and youngest sons; she has not sought details after hearing her middle son was wounded in a drone strike.

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