Former War Prisoners Accuse Russia of Systematic Torture

Former Ukrainian prisoners and government officials accused Russia of systematically torturing prisoners of war and civilian detainees during an informal U.N. Security Council meeting.

The allegations include beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence, prolonged isolation, denial of medical care, and inhumane detention conditions.

Russia rejected the accusations, calling them part of a "disinformation campaign."

Former POWs Testify

Former Ukrainian detainee Khuan Alberto Levya Garsiya said he was held for 1,183 days and endured "every imaginable form of torture."

He mentioned daily beatings, electric shocks, forced exercise in freezing temperatures, sexual violence, and chronic food deprivation.

He also said two fellow prisoners were beaten to death in detention centers in the Donetsk region.

Crimean Tatar activist Leniie Umerova, released in a 2024 prisoner exchange, said she was transferred through multiple detention facilities after being detained while attempting to visit her seriously ill father in Crimea.

She accused Russia of routinely using torture against Ukrainian detainees.

UN Findings

U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Claudia Fuentes Julio said OHCHR monitoring indicates "widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment" of Ukrainian POWs and civilian detainees.

The findings are based on 2,129 confidential interviews conducted since February 2022, including 910 released Ukrainian POWs and 403 civilian detainees.

According to OHCHR, more than 95% of interviewed POWs reported torture or ill-treatment, while more than half reported sexual violence.

The office also documented repeated allegations of severe beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, dog attacks, prolonged sleep deprivation, and degrading detention conditions.

OHCHR said 129 Ukrainian POWs have been executed at the start of captivity since February 2022, while 48 died in custody due to torture, denial of medical care, or other inhumane conditions.

Russia Rejects Allegations

Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Maria Zabolotskaya, dismissed the allegations as a "disinformation campaign" and claimed Russian prisoners held by Ukraine face "torture and degradation and moral and physical abuse."

OHCHR said it has also documented some abuse of Russian and third-country POWs held by Ukraine.

However, it said the scale was "fundamentally different" and noted that official Ukrainian facilities generally complied more closely with international standards.

The office also said Russia has not granted monitors access to its detention facilities.