Ukraine Details Systematic Torture of POWs at UN Meeting
At a UN Security Council meeting, Ukraine presented accounts of torture and abuse of prisoners, citing UN findings that over 95% of Ukrainian POWs reported ill-treatment.
Former Ukrainian detainees and officials presented harrowing accounts of torture and abuse at an informal UN Security Council meeting on Monday, accusing Russia of systematically mistreating prisoners of war and civilian detainees. The allegations include beatings, electric shocks, and sexual violence, with thousands of Ukrainians still believed to be in captivity.
Khuan Alberto Levya Garsiya, an active Ukrainian serviceman, described enduring 1,183 days of captivity. "Anything you can think of that can be done hurtful, humiliating to a man, unwillingly," he said, detailing daily beatings, electrocution, and sexual abuse. He stated that two of his friends were beaten to death in detention centers in the Donetsk region and that prisoners were held in overcrowded barracks where many fell ill with dysentery and starvation.
Crimean Tatar activist Leniie Umerova, released in a 2024 prisoner exchange, recounted being moved through seven detention facilities in what she called a "carousel of repression." Oleg Gushin of Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said Kyiv has identified over 300 places of detention in Russia and occupied Ukrainian territory. While more than 9,000 Ukrainians have been returned via exchanges, he noted that thousands remain in captivity.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Claudia Fuentes Julio stated that UN monitoring confirms "widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment" of Ukrainian prisoners by Russian authorities, including sexual violence. She reported that over 95% of Ukrainian POWs interviewed experienced torture or ill-treatment, with more than half reporting sexual violence. The UN has also documented the execution of 129 Ukrainian POWs and the deaths of 48 in custody since February 2022.
Russia's Deputy UN Representative Maria Zabolotskaya rejected the allegations as a "disinformation campaign," countering that Russian prisoners in Ukraine face "torture and degradation." Fuentes Julio acknowledged that the OHCHR has documented abuse of Russian prisoners held by Ukraine, but said it occurs on a "fundamentally different scale," with about half of those interviewed reporting abuse during initial captivity stages.