The United Nations estimates that more than 16,000 civilians detained by Russia during its war in Ukraine remain deprived of their liberty, with many held incommunicado and on grounds that do not comply with international law.
Claudia Fuentes Julio, the UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, stated that "widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment" of both Ukrainian civilian detainees and prisoners of war by Russia are continuing, including sexual violence. She spoke at an informal meeting of the UN Security Council called by Latvia and the United Kingdom to highlight the situation of civilians and soldiers taken during the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022.
UN human rights staff have interviewed 910 Ukrainian prisoners of war and 403 civilian detainees after their release since the invasion. The UN has been unable to visit detention facilities within Russia. The estimated figure of those held does not specify whether they are adults or children.
Julio reported that over 95% of Ukrainian prisoners of war and 85% of civilian detainees interviewed by the UN indicated they had been subjected to torture or ill-treatment, often repeatedly. They also reported sexual attacks and inhumane conditions, including deprivation of food and inadequate medical services.
The Geneva-based human rights office has documented the executions of 129 Ukrainian prisoners of war at the start of their captivity and the deaths of 48 Ukrainian prisoners of war in custody due to torture, denial of medical care, or other inhumane detention conditions.
Accounts shared at the Security Council meeting included those of Crimean Tatar human rights activist Leniie Umerova, who described herself as a "political prisoner" of Russia for nearly two years, and Khuan Leyva Garsiya, a Ukrainian soldier who was among those who held out at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol before surrendering in May 2022. Garsiya, who spent 1,183 days as a POW, showed a photograph of his emaciated state upon release, weighing 55 kilograms (120 pounds). He recounted experiencing torture, beatings, and humiliation due to suspicions he was a foreign mercenary or an American spy because of his Cuban ancestry and U.S. college education.
He further stated that prisoners were subjected to freezing, beatings, electrocution, and sexual abuse in an attempt to mentally break them and force false confessions. Garsiya reported that two friends were beaten to death in detention centers in the Donetsk region, and two others died due to conditions in Russian prisons, with their bodies returned to Ukraine in plastic bags.
Umerova's detention began when she attempted to enter Russia from Georgia to visit her ailing father in Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014. She was held on "fabricated charges" and, despite securing her release through a court order with legal assistance, was immediately rearrested. Over six months, she was moved to seven different facilities, which she described as a "carousel of repression." Umerova asserted that her experience is part of a systemic effort by Russia to unlawfully detain, isolate, torture, and fabricate charges against civilians, naming several women currently in Russian prisons and stating that at least 84 women have faced criminal prosecution.
The UN also interviewed 816 Russian and 57 third-country national prisoners of war from over 45 countries who were members of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Approximately half reported torture or ill-treatment, primarily during initial captivity and interrogation by Ukrainian forces. However, UN monitors noted that conditions in Ukrainian detention facilities generally comply with international humanitarian law and have improved since 2022.
Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Maria Zabolotskaya asserted that Russian armed forces adhere to international humanitarian law concerning prisoner treatment and claimed Russian prisoners in Ukraine faced "torture and degradation, and moral and physical abuse." She characterized the Security Council meeting as a "disinformation campaign against Russia" funded by NATO countries, aimed at hindering peace settlement efforts and justifying strikes on Russian territory and civilians.
Ukraine's Deputy UN Ambassador Volodymyr Pavlichenko expressed surprise that Russia was unwilling to discuss the return of all prisoners of war, including their own, and all civilian detainees, particularly abducted children, during the meeting.