Ukraine Accuses Russia of Systematic Torture of POWs and Civilian Detainees

Former Ukrainian detainees and government officials have accused Russia of widespread and systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees, alleging beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence and prolonged incommunicado detention.

The allegations were raised Monday during an informal United Nations Security Council meeting. Russia rejected the claims, calling them a “disinformation campaign” and countering that Russian prisoners held in Ukraine have also faced torture, degradation and physical abuse.

Ukrainian serviceman Khuan Alberto Levya Garsiya said he endured 1,183 days in Russian captivity and was subjected to repeated physical and psychological abuse. He described beatings, electrocution, forced exercise in freezing temperatures and sexual abuse. Garsiya also said two fellow prisoners died after being beaten in detention facilities in the Donetsk region.

According to Garsiya, prisoners were kept in overcrowded facilities where illness and hunger were widespread. He said guards singled him out because of his Latino surname and accused him of being a mercenary and American spy.

Crimean Tatar activist Leniie Umerova, who was released in a 2024 prisoner exchange, said she passed through seven detention facilities after being detained while traveling to visit her seriously ill father in Crimea. She accused Russian authorities of routinely using torture against Ukrainians in custody.

Ukrainian officials said they have identified more than 300 detention locations across Russia and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. More than 9,000 Ukrainians have returned through prisoner exchanges, while thousands reportedly remain captive.

U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Claudia Fuentes Julio said monitoring by the U.N. human rights office indicates that torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian POWs and civilian detainees by Russian authorities remains “widespread and systematic.”

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, the U.N. has documented the execution of 129 Ukrainian POWs early in captivity and 48 deaths in detention linked to torture, inadequate medical care or inhumane conditions.

More than 95% of interviewed Ukrainian POWs reported torture or ill-treatment, while over half reported sexual violence. The U.N. has also documented abuse of Russian and third-country POWs held by Ukraine, but said it occurred on a “fundamentally different scale.”