Missionary with Texas ties shares his story after being freed by Russian forces – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An American missionary with ties to North Texas working in Ukraine shares his story after being released by Russian authorities.

Dmitry Bodyu, 50, has worked in Ukraine as a missionary for about 30 years. He is a pastor at Word of Life Church in Melitopol, which he says began helping residents with housing and other needs soon after the Russian invasion in February. Bodyu has family and friends in North Texas, where he travels every year to attend conferences with Gateway Church.

On the morning of March 19, he recalls four SUVs arriving at his family’s home with “14 or 15” armed Russian soldiers.

“It’s hard to tell because they kept me in a room and talked to me. There were four people in one room and my family was in another room. There were two or three soldiers in the other room, and they were scattered around the house,” Bodyu told NBC 5 on Friday.

“They came in and took me to the kitchen and asked if I could get all the phones and computers, everything we have. So, I brought it there. They searched our things, the rooms. Our documents and the rest of the things they think they need for some reason.

Bodyu said he was then taken to their church, where he handed over other documents along with other items like cash and hard drives.

“Then they took me to where they are holding people. It’s a police department, but they have cells in the basement. So they put a black bag over my head and just took me there,” he said. “I was alone in a cell and I don’t know how many people were there. I could say, maybe six or seven.

Bodyu said he spent a total of eight days in detention.

“For some reason they thought I was a spy. First interrogation was three people and a military man with a machine gun standing behind me. I think these guys were from the Secret Service, not exactly the military. Their faces were covered. I never see a face. It was always masked, even the guys from the prison. They wore masks, ”he recalled. “The way he said is like, they emit” a One way ticket “. I’m like, ‘whoa… what does that mean? One way ticket?’ “Well, they want to kill you.” I said, ‘why? I’m just a pastor. I’m not doing anything. I have no connection with the military or anything like that.

Bodyu said that initially he was told he could be detained for at least a month. He was unable to communicate directly with his family.

“The conditions in the cell were real, real… bad. It smelled there. There was blood everywhere. It was just unpleasant, but it was okay. I sat there thinking that there are people in Mariupol and Kharkiv in worse condition. I mean, I’m fine. I am still alive,” he said. “No one hurt me or anything because almost every day I can hear they were interrogating people. They were beating them pretty badly. The guys were screaming over there. I don’t know what they were doing with them, but it was…a lot of madness. But they never touch me.

Eventually, Bodyu said he was released safe and sound. He noted that one of the men “was very kind”, bringing him coffee and offering food throughout the eight days. When he returned home, Bodyu said his family had decided to leave Ukraine. It took them nearly a full week to get to Poland, as they were initially advised to cross into Russia to avoid active combat zones.

“The problem with the military…if you go there, they know who you are. They can kill you there. We are a bit scared to go through Russia but finally we decided and left,” he said. “When we arrived at the border, I had the same thing. They stop us. They arrest just about everyone. All the men. They take their passports, mobile phones. They strip them naked and search for tattoos, machine gun marks. They look at their hands, stuff like that.

His family is currently in Warsaw, Poland. Since this week, the country hosted nearly 2.6 million Ukrainians refugees. Bodyu said their family was working with the US Embassy to leave. They have US citizenship, but he said his son-in-law and daughter-in-law are Ukrainians.

In the meantime, he said his work with the church is not over. He always helps as many people as possible.

“We want to help our people here in western Ukraine. We are still working. I’m on the phone every day,” he said. “People need medicine. People need food. A lot of people want to go from there, and it’s quite expensive. So I support a lot of things.

Once his children and their wives are safe in the United States, Bodyu said he and his wife would like to return to Ukraine one day to continue their missionary work. However, these plans are uncertain at this stage.