For two years, the only Russians Oleh saw were trying to kill him in battle. Now hundreds of them have him surrounded, by his own choice, at a camp for Russian prisoners of war.

Guarding, feeding and treating enemy soldiers is fraught in any country. But Ukrainians working with these P.O.W.’s have the added challenge of knowing that Russian forces invaded their land and committed atrocities, while their own country wants to show the world it treats prisoners with a decency that camp workers may not feel.

They have vastly differing motivations for taking it on. Oleh said that for him, it was about exorcising his hatred.

“I wanted to look them in the eyes,” he said.

For others, it can be curiosity, a contribution to the war effort, or just a paycheck.

Russia’s systematic mistreatment and torture of prisoners of war has been well documented by the United Nations and rights groups. While Ukraine has faced accusations of extreme mistreatment of Russian soldiers, particularly during their apprehension, independent monitors say such cases are far more isolated.

That imbalance is visible in split-screen images of prisoner swaps — skeletal, wounded and ill Ukrainians, traded for healthy-looking Russians. It spurs pain and anger in Ukraine, and profound emotional struggle for many of those who look after Russian prisoners.

Oleh, 58, keeps his job at a camp in Lviv, in western Ukraine, a secret from everyone but his wife. His brothers and nephews are still fighting on the front lines.

“How can I say to them that I am caring for the Russian P.O.W.s?” he asked.

‘This Benefits Ukraine’

Ivan, 42, helped set up Ukraine’s first P.O.W. camp after Russia’s 2022 invasion, and later the one in Lviv. Like all camp employees interviewed, he asked to be identified by only his first name, for security reasons.