UN: 95% of Ukrainian POWs Report Torture

Former prisoners and Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of systematically mistreating prisoners of war and civilians. At an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council, former detainees described beatings, electric shocks and sexual abuse.

Ukrainian soldier Khuan Alberto Levya Garsiya spent 1,183 days in captivity. He said he was subjected to daily violence, electric shocks, humiliation and sexual abuse. According to Garsiya, two of his friends died after being beaten in detention centers in the Donetsk region.

Claudia Fuentes Juliová, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Human Rights, said that more than 95% of the Ukrainian prisoners of war interviewed reported torture or ill-treatment. More than half reported sexual violence.

Since February 2022, the UN has documented the executions of 129 Ukrainian prisoners of war and another 48 deaths in custody.

The UN has also documented the mistreatment of Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine, although Juliová said it occurred on a “fundamentally different scale”.

Russia has rejected the allegations as a “disinformation campaign” and claims that Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine face torture and humiliation.

(Reuters, bak)