Retired Valencia official's Kherson apartment burns down as he remains held by Russia since 2022
Mariano García Calatayud, a retired Valencia municipal official, has been held by Russia since March 2022, and his apartment in Kherson has now burned down.
Mariano García Calatayud, a Spanish citizen and retired official from Valencia, has not been seen since March 2022, when Russian forces took him from his own doorstep. No information about his fate has emerged since then.
García Calatayud had traveled to Ukraine to settle a personal debt dating back to the time of Franco's dictatorship in Spain. This detail adds a particular sense of tragedy to his case: a man attempting to fulfill a long-standing personal obligation ended up caught in war and taken captive.
Detention and the apartment fire
He was seized in the Kherson area at a time when the city and its surroundings were under Russian occupation. It has now become known that his apartment in Kherson has burned down, meaning the missing Spaniard no longer has a home to return to should he ever be released.
Neither his current location nor the circumstances surrounding the fire in his apartment have been publicly disclosed. No official information is available regarding his health or any possible prisoner exchange involving him.
His case adds to a broader list of civilians and foreign nationals detained by Russian forces in occupied areas of Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. The fate of many such individuals remains unknown, with relatives waiting years for any news.
