Ukraine Accuses Russia of Systematic Torture of POWs

Former Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and officials accused Russia of systematically torturing POWs and civilian detainees during an informal United Nations Security Council meeting on Monday. According to multiple reports, captives were subjected to beatings, electric shocks, sexual abuse, and held incommunicado.

Khuan Alberto Levya Garsiya, a former Ukrainian prisoner of war who is still an active member of the Ukrainian military, detailed his 1,183 days in Russian captivity. He described enduring every imaginable form of torture including daily beatings, electrocution, excessive exercises in freezing conditions, and sexual abuse. 'Anything you can think of that can be done hurtful, humiliating to a man unwillingly... it was all applied to me and most of my comrades,' Garsiya told reporters after the UN meeting.

Garsiya recounted that two of his friends were beaten to death in detention centers in the Donetsk region. He described prisoners being held in 'overcrowded barracks without adequate conditions', where 'almost all POWs were ill with dysentery' and many were starving. Garsiya also mentioned that guards targeted him because of his Latino name, accusing him of being a mercenary and an American spy.

Crimean Tatar activist Leniie Umerova, released in a prisoner exchange in 2024, described her detention while trying to visit her seriously ill father in Crimea. She detailed being moved through seven detention facilities, which she called 'a carousel of repression'. Oleg Gushin from the Ukrainian government's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War stated that Kyiv had identified more than 300 places of detention in Russia and occupied Ukrainian territory.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Claudia Fuentes Julio reported that UN monitoring showed 'widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees by the Russian Federation authorities continues'. Since February 2022, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented the execution of 129 Ukrainian POWs at the beginning of their captivity and the deaths of 48 in custody due to torture, denial of medical care, or other inhumane conditions. More than 95% of interviewed Ukrainian prisoners reported experiencing torture or ill-treatment.

The United Nations estimates that more than 16,000 civilians detained by Russia during its war in Ukraine are still being held incommunicado and on grounds that don't comply with international law. The UN has not been able to visit detention facilities in Russia, and its estimated figure of those held does not break down how many are adults or children.

Russia rejected these allegations, with Deputy UN Representative Maria Zabolotskaya calling them 'a disinformation campaign'. She alleged that Russian prisoners in Ukraine were subjected to 'torture and degradation and moral and physical abuse'. Fuentes Julio also noted that the UN had documented torture of Russian and third-country national POWs held by Ukraine but on a fundamentally different scale.

The United Nations reported that civilian deaths in Ukraine reached their highest level since May 2022, with at least 437 civilians killed and 2,610 injured in July. This marks a 30 percent increase compared with the previous month and a 70 percent increase compared with July last year. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission warned that this figure is likely an underestimate since it cannot confirm casualties in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of continuing a campaign of 'terror' after a Russian drone hit a passenger train in southern Ukraine's Odesa region, killing two crew members. The train was carrying 340 people, but none of the passengers were harmed. Zelenskyy has pleaded with allies to deliver more advanced air defense systems to fend off intensifying attacks by Russia's super-fast ballistic missiles.