Why cold, darkness worsen PTSD among ex-POWs

Editor’s note: The following article depicts scenes of violence and torture.

“I’ve started having bad dreams. I remember my punishment cell. It was constantly cold there. Even in summer, it was always cold in our cell,” said Oleksii Anulia, who spent nearly ten months in Russian captivity in 2022.

It has been three years since he was released from the punishment cell, where the air was saturated with mold and the stench of urine and feces.

Yet, this winter Oleksii has begun waking in the middle of the night to flashbacks, as the darkness and cold in his own home resembles the conditions of captivity.

He is not alone. Traumatic memories have intensified among former prisoners of war, with the onset of blackouts, as power outages have become a powerful trigger.

Cold is one of the forms of torture Russian forces systematically use against Ukrainians held in Russian prisons. Today, that same cold has turned into a tool of pressure on civilians, aimed at breaking society and forcing Ukraine into concessions.

February 1 marked the end of the so-called ‘energy ceasefire’ between Russia and Ukraine, initiated by Donald Trump and purportedly meant to shield Ukrainians from mass strikes during the harshest cold of the winter. This month, Ukraine is experiencing its most severe cold spell of the season, with temperatures in some northern cities dropping to −28°C (−18.4°F).

For prisoners of war, cold has become an all-consuming psychological trigger, demonstrating how exposure to low temperatures can evoke long-lasting consequences for mental health…

… And how methods of torture in captivity can be adapted far beyond the trenches.

Oleksii’s flashbacks to his captivity started again in late autumn when Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure sent it into its first major blackout of the year.

It had been a long time since Oleksii last had nightmares — almost two years — so long that he started to think he might even be free from them.

At the time, he was returning home to Chernihiv after a trip to the United States, where he presented his book about captivity.

“I