What Is Happening To Ukrainian Prisoners Of War In Russia?

On October 18, 2023, relatives of Ukrainian Azov regiment war prisoners held a rally at St. Sophia Square in Kyiv calling for their quick exchange with Russian prisoners of war. Prisoner swaps between Ukraine and Russia are rare. While more than 2,500 Ukrainians have been released, up to 10,000 are believed to remain in Russian custody. Their fate is unknown. However, media reported that former Ukrainian captives testified that they were subjected to torture, including frequent beatings and electric shocks, while in custody at a detention facility in south-western Russia, in what would be serious violations of international humanitarian law. Earlier this year, BBC interviewed several former detainees released in prisoner exchanges who alleged physical and psychological abuse by Russian officers and guards. The abuse is said to take place in the Pre-Trial Detention Facility Number Two, in the city of Taganrog. It is one of the locations where Ukrainian prisoners of war have been held in Russia.

Reports of detainees being subjected to abuse are not new. In November 2022, the Head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, presented the results of their interviews with 159 prisoners of war (139 men and 20 women) who were held by the Russian Federation (including by affiliated armed groups). Commenting on the findings, Ms Bogner stated that “Immediately upon capture, some [Ukrainian prisoners of war] were beaten or had their personal belongings pillaged. The prisoners of war were then transported to places of internment in a manner that raised concerns. They were often taken in overcrowded trucks or buses and sometimes lacked access to water or toilets for more than a day. Their hands were tied and eyes covered so tightly with duct tape that it left wounds on their wrists and faces.” She further added that “Upon arrival at certain places of internment, prisoners of war were subjected to so-called ‘admission procedures’, which frequently involved prolonged beatings, threats, dog attacks, being stripped and put into stress positions. Witnesses told us about the death of at least one prisoner of war during an ‘admission procedure’ in the penal colony near Olenivka in mid-April 2022. We have received information about eight other such alleged deaths there in April 2022 and we are working to corroborate them.”

As Ms Bogner explained, the vast majority of those her team interviewed testified that during their internment they were tortured and ill-treated. Torture and ill-treatment are said to have been used to coerce prisoners of war to give military information or statements about alleged crimes but also to intimidate and humiliate them. Prisoners of war described being “beaten, including with batons and wooden hammers, kicked, and given electric shocks with Tasers and a military phone known as TAPik.”

A man interviewed by the the team of Ms Bogner testified on the torture he experienced in a penal colony near Olenivka, including how members of Russian-affiliated armed groups, “attached wires to [his] genitalia and nose, and shocked [him]. They simply had fun and were not interested in [his] replies to their questions.” Other forms of abuse reported by the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine included “being stabbed, shot with a stun gun, threatened with mock executions, being hung by the hands or legs, and burned with cigarettes (…) various forms of sexual violence, such as pulling a male victim by a rope tied around his genitalia, or forced nudity combined with the threat of rape.”

The report produced by the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine included testimonies of 20 women prisoners of war after they were released from the penal colony near Olenivka and other facilities in Donetsk, and in the Russian Federation. Their experiences varied. For example, the women released from the colony near Olenivka described being psychologically tormented by the screams of male prisoners of war being tortured in nearby cells. Women from other locations testified on having been beaten, electrocuted and threatened with sexual violence during interrogations, or being subjected to degrading treatment that amounted to sexual violence (for example by being “forced to run naked from one room to another in the presence of male guards”).

Furthermore, former prisoners reported on the dire conditions more broadly, including overcrowded cells, poor hygiene and lack of food and water. As the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine confirmed, “some of them lost up to a quarter of their body weight, and many frequently fainted in captivity.” Also, only a few of them were allowed to call or text their relatives. The Russian government has not allowed the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, or other bodies, to visit facilities used to hold prisoners of war.

Prisoners of war are protected under international humanitarian law. Among others, they must be treated humanely in all circumstances. They are protected against any act of violence, intimidation, insults, and public curiosity. International humanitarian law further defines minimum conditions of detention covering accommodation, food, clothing, hygiene and medical care that prisoners of war are to be provided with. Reports suggesting violations of these protections and minimum conditions of detentions must be taken seriously.