More than half of the Russian servicemen who have been in Ukrainian captivity have been subjected to torture, the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the situation in Ukraine has revealed.
“Of the 205 Russian POWs interviewed since March 2023, 104 provided consistent and detailed accounts of torture or other forms of ill-treatment, indicating a continuing pattern. With some exceptions, such ill-treatment occurred at the initial stage of detention,” the report said.
The document said the main methods of ill-treatment were beatings, including targeted blows to knees and joints, threats of physical violence or murder, and electrocution.
“Those responsible for this violence used a variety of objects, including rubber truncheons, aluminium or wooden bats/hammers, tactical gloves, tasers, military telephones or other electrical devices such as car batteries,” the material said.
The UN also said that ten Russian prisoners of war out of 205 interviewed said they had been subjected to sexual violence, including genital abuse and threats of rape. At the same time, the Prosecutor General’s office has not prosecuted anyone for murder and torture of prisoners of war, only five preliminary investigations have been opened, summarised in the report of the OHCHR.
Earlier, a member of the Russian diplomatic mission to the UN, Yaroslav Eremin, said that the OHCHR whitewashes the crimes committed by Ukraine, shifting Kiev’s responsibility to Russia.