'We'll depart you to rot' — UN report particulars horrific torture of Ukrainian civilians in Russian captivity

[ad_1] The Workplace of the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) revealed a report on Sept. 23 detailing the huge scale of torture dedicated by Russian forces on Ukrainian civilians held in captivity in occupied territories.

Between June 1, 2023, and Sept. 10, 2025, OHCHR documented 508 instances of civilian detainees, together with 392 males, 103 girls, three ladies, and 9 boys. These embrace people of all age teams, from adolescents to older adults, in addition to 15 individuals with disabilities.

"We'll depart you to rot. Nobody will discover you. Nobody wants you. You do not exist. We'll bury you proper right here; solely hungry canine will discover you," one civilian detainee mentioned when describing the threats he acquired in captivity .

Moscow occupies roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory within the east and the south, together with Crimea and large parts of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. Ukrainian civilians residing within the space have confronted persecution and detention underneath Russian occupation .

The Kremlin enforced Russian prison regulation within the occupied territories, disregarding worldwide humanitarian regulation obligation to respect native legal guidelines except strictly unimaginable.

Whereas detained by Russia, Ukrainians are subjected to brutal torture, together with bodily and psychological torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence, and inhumane situations of detention.

"Folks have been arbitrarily picked off the streets in occupied territory, charged underneath shifting authorized bases and held for days, weeks, months, and even years, usually with restricted contact to their households," Volker Turk, the U.N. Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, mentioned within the report.

Former detainees reported experiencing a broad array of torture and ill-treatment throughout their captivity. Generally described strategies included extreme beatings with numerous objects akin to batons and sticks, electrical shocks to totally different physique elements, mock executions, kickings, threats of dying, and violence directed both to a detainee or their family members.

Detainees had been additionally subjected to emphasize positions, akin to "bent strolling" and extended kneeling on concrete surfaces, and totally different types of humiliation, together with pressured singing of the Russian anthem and patriotic songs.

Based on the report, over 92 % of the 216 launched civilian detainees interviewed since June 2023 offered constant and detailed accounts of being subjected to torture or ill-treatment throughout their captivity. Moreover, 101 interviewees described witnessing torture or ill-treatment of different detainees.

<img alt="Video thumbnail" loading="lazy" width="500" height="283" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="YoutubeEmbed_thumbnail__C6re7" style="color:transparent" srcset="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.youtube.com%2Fvi%2FEmBpKKUBCk0%2Fhqdefault.jpg&w=640&q=75 1x, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.youtube.com%2Fvi%2FEmBpKKUBCk0%2Fhqdefault.jpg&w=1024&q=75 2x" src="https://kyivindependent.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.youtube.com%2Fvi%2FEmBpKKUBCk0%2Fhqdefault.jpg&w=1024&q=75"/> One civilian detainee held in captivity by Russian troopers mentioned his captors beat him "closely with a baseball bat, concentrating on legs, a knee, and head."

"They broken my elbow, displaced my kneecap, and injured my ft. I informed one among them to be a human being and shoot me lifeless. He replied that he wouldn't waste ammo to kill me," he mentioned.

Sixty-six launched Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) mentioned that they witnessed torture and ill-treatment of civilians who had been held along with them in the identical facilities in 2024 and 2025, in keeping with the U.N. research.

"Torture and merciless, inhuman and degrading remedy and punishment are completely prohibited and the life, well-being and dignity of individuals disadvantaged of their liberty should be revered," the report says.

Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Might 9 that Ukrainian authorities had confirmed the continuing detention of round 1,800 Ukrainian civilians by Russia. The precise determine is probably going a lot better, as verifying the data is tough.

"Within the occupied territories of Ukraine, individuals are subjected to unlawful persecution for his or her pro-Ukrainian stance," Lubinets mentioned.

"Quite a few instances of torture and bodily and psychological violence have been documented. The (Russian) occupiers fabricate prison instances in opposition to Ukrainians."

The ombudsman added that that is a part of Russia’s repressive coverage geared toward suppressing Ukrainian resistance in occupied territories.

Lubinets referred to as it a "flagrant" violation of worldwide humanitarian regulation, because the Fourth Geneva Conference prohibits the forcible switch of civilians, torture, merciless, inhuman, or degrading remedy.

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