Ukrainian volunteer who said FSB blackmailed him returns home after trip to Russia
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Ukrainian volunteer Mykhailo Puryshev, who traveled to Moscow in August after saying Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had blackmailed him by threatening his son living in Russia, has returned safely to Ukraine.
"I am in Ukraine. I am home," Puryshev wrote in an Instagram post published on Sept. 2.
"To be honest, I didn’t think I would ever be able to say these words," he wrote, thanking those who had sent messages, called, and helped him.
"With your support, you can return even from a place that seems impossible to return from."
Puryshev said he could not yet disclose all the details of the trip. "I understand that you still have many questions. But I cannot tell you everything right now. And I don’t know when I will be able to," he wrote. "The main thing is that today I can say: I am alive, I am in Ukraine, and I have completed all official procedures."
He added that he planned to eventually return to his volunteer work.
Puryshev, a well-known volunteer from Mariupol, flew to Moscow on Aug. 17 after saying the FSB had pressured him to provide information about Ukrainian military positions while continuing his volunteer activities as cover.
He claimed the FSB threatened to draft his son, who lives in Russia, into the Russian military and send him to fight against Ukraine if he refused to cooperate. The Kyiv Independent can't immediately verify this information.
After arriving at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Puryshev posted another video saying, “I have arrived in Russia for the sake of my son.” He then stopped communicating publicly until Aug. 19.
In a video published that day, Puryshev said he was safe and was no longer in Russia, but gave no further details about his whereabouts or his son.
Puryshev has four children. Two from a previous marriage live in Russia, while his other two children live in Ukraine.
He became widely known for his volunteer work during the siege of Mariupol in spring 2022, when he repeatedly drove into the city to evacuate civilians.
