Ukrainian Detainees Share Harrowing Accounts of Abuse in Russian Custody
UNITED NATIONS — Former Ukrainian detainees and Ukrainian officials accused Russia on Monday of systematically torturing prisoners of war and civilian detainees, with witnesses describing beatings, electric shocks, sexual abuse, and starvation in overcrowded detention centers.
Khuan Alberto Levya Garsiya, an active Ukrainian military member, said he was subjected to “everything you can think of” during 1,183 days in captivity, including daily beatings, electrocution, excessive exercises in freezing cold, and sexual abuse. He said two of his friends were beaten to death in detention centers in the Donetsk region, where prisoners were held in overcrowded barracks without adequate conditions.
Crimean Tatar activist Leniie Umerova, released in a 2024 prisoner exchange, described being moved through “seven detention facilities” in what she called “a carousel of repression.” Ukrainian officials said more than 9,000 Ukrainians had been returned through exchanges, but “thousands” remained in Russian captivity.
Russia rejected the allegations, with Deputy UN Representative Maria Zabolotskaya calling it “a disinformation campaign.”
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Claudia Fuentes Julio said UN monitoring showed “widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment” of Ukrainian prisoners by Russian authorities continues. More than 95 percent of Ukrainian POWs interviewed reported torture or ill-treatment, with over half reporting sexual violence. The UN documented the execution of 129 Ukrainian POWs at the beginning of their captivity and the deaths of 48 in custody. While the UN also documented abuse of Russian and third-country prisoners held by Ukraine, it was “on a fundamentally different scale.”
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