During this winter, Russian occupiers executed 32 Ukrainian prisoners of war, a significant increase compared to previous periods.
This was reported by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
The 38th report of the UN mission on the human rights situation in Ukraine covers the period from December 1, 2023, to February 29, 2024. Experts conducted interviews with 60 Ukrainian servicemen recently released from captivity.
Ukrainian soldiers described horrifying treatment by the occupiers, including the inability to communicate with their families, inadequate food, and lack of medical assistance while in captivity.
Russian military personnel and officials have been reported to torture prisoners, including beatings, electric shocks, prolonged stress positions, threats of execution, or simulated executions. More than half of the captives experienced sexual violence.
The authors of the report note that these findings confirm that the Russian army continues to employ previously established practices of torture, cruel treatment, deaths in captivity, isolation from the outside world, enforced disappearances, and appalling detention conditions.
"In the reporting period, OHCHR recorded 12 cases of executions of at least 32 captured Ukrainian POWs. OHCHR has verified three of these incidents in which Russian servicemen executed seven Ukrainian servicemen hors de combat," the report states.
The UN also provides information on interviews with 44 Russian prisoners of war, who, although not reporting torture in official places of detention, provided "testimonies of torture and cruel treatment in places of their temporary stay after evacuation from the battlefield."
Furthermore, the mission's report contains information about violence by the Russian administration against residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine, including killings of civilians, arbitrary detention, and restrictions on freedom of expression.
According to the UN, the total number of confirmed civilian casualties in Ukraine "remains proportionate to the number of casualties from the previous period."
