UN: Over 95% of Ukrainian prisoners of war are tortured in Russia

Over 95% of Ukrainian prisoners of war are tortured in Russia, said Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, in an interview with the Dutch NOS television and radio company.

“During the initial interrogation, they are subjected to torture, which includes beatings with metal sticks and batons, and electric shocks. It is horrific. It is by far the worst thing I have seen in my 20 years of visiting prisoners on behalf of the UN. Torture is widespread and systemic,” Bell added.

Her data is based on reports from Ukrainian prisoners who have returned home and with whom the mission’s representative was able to speak. Systemic torture was mentioned in the March report of the UN Commission of Inquiry into Violations during the War in Ukraine. The authors of the report reported that Ukrainian prisoners of war are regularly beaten, tortured with electric shocks, and even maimed.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that 6,465 Ukrainian soldiers were being held in Russian captivity, while 1,348 Russian prisoners of war were being held in Ukraine. The Ukrainian side claims that as of early March, two thousand Russians were being held in Ukrainian captivity.

The head of the Prosecutor General’s Office department for combating crimes committed in armed conflict, Yuri Belousov, said that more than 110 Ukrainian soldiers were executed in Russia after their surrender. Russia denies accusations of torture and other forms of cruel treatment of prisoners of war.

At the end of July, it became known that Alexander Ishchenko, who served in the Azov Regiment, had died in pretrial detention center No. 5 in Rostov-on-Don. He was involved in a criminal case on terrorist activity along with 23 other Azov soldiers. The day before, the deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, Svyatoslav Palamar, published a forensic report stating that Ishchenko died from the injuries he inflicted on him.