Myroslava Shcherbatiuk- Ambassador of Ukraine to Jordan

Since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the systematic violation of the rights of Ukrainian prisoners – both military personnel and civilians – has become one of the most urgent and painful humanitarian challenges. From the very beginning of the war, it became clear that the abuses committed by Russia are not accidental excesses but part of a deliberate state policy, rooted in a worldview that treats human life and dignity as disposable. What Ukraine is confronting is not chaos, but a system — a system built on cruelty.

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, 95% of released Ukrainian prisoners of war and 91% of released Ukrainian civilians (according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) report torture and inhumane treatment.

During their captivity, Ukrainians are subjected to beatings; suspension and stretching of limbs; long-term immobilization; burns; electroshock; asphyxiation, suffocation and strangulation; bone fractures; puncture and gunshot wounds; needles forced under the nails; the use of salt, hot pepper, gasoline and other substances on wounds or in body cavities; sexual violence, including rape and genital mutilation; crushing or forced removal of fingers or other body parts; unsanitary detention conditions; sleep deprivation; deprivation of food, water and medical care; humiliation; death threats and mock executions; threats of animal attacks; coercion under torture to harm others; and forcing victims to witness the torture of others. Such practices demonstrate that torture in Russia is not an isolated violation — it is a method of governance. The purpose is not only to break bodies, but to break hope.

Aimed at degrading dignity, forcing compliance or extracting confessions, these actions inflict deep physical and psychological trauma. The Russian Federation’s mistreatment of detainees – marked by torture, abuse and systematic rights violations – is intentional and driven by a policy of violence and disregard for human rights. Russia’s actions reveal a pattern: cruelty is not a byproduct of its system, but one of its foundations.

The Russian regime’s systemic use of torture is deeply rooted in Russian history, building on the crimes of the Gulag and Stalin’s terror, turning Russia into a territory of lawlessness where human life and dignity are treated as worthless. In this context, the continuation of torture today is not a departure from the norm, but an extension of a long-standing tradition of impunity and state violence. The past has not disappeared — it has simply taken a new form.

In September 2025, Russia officially left the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture. This step effectively legalizes torture in Russia. Russia’s actions speak louder than words — its withdrawal from the Convention is a stark demonstration of its total disregard for human rights and an openly hostile attitude toward international accountability. When a state removes itself from mechanisms of oversight, it reveals that abuses are not merely tolerated — they are intended.

Russia has repeatedly denied access to international monitoring bodies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has a mandate to inspect detention facilities and report on the treatment of prisoners. Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross has been granted access to monitor the detention conditions of Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine. The contrast is telling: Ukraine demonstrates transparency; Russia hides its crimes. A state that prevents monitoring does so because it fears what the world will see.

Through investigations, data analysis and interviews with witnesses and returned detainees, the Ukrainian government, along with Ukrainian and international human rights organizations, continues to document evidence of the Russian Federation’s crimes against captives. According to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, at least 268 executions of Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity have been documented since February 2022 — a horrifying reminder that Russia uses murder as an instrument of intimidation.

Three years ago, on the night of 28–29 July 2022, the Russian Federation committed one of the most horrific and cynical war crimes during its war against Ukraine on the territory of the former correctional colony in the village of Olenivka on the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. As a result of the explosion on the territory of this facility, more than 50 Ukrainian defenders from Azovstal who were in captivity were killed. About 150 were injured. For a long period of time, the colony staff did not provide medical assistance to the wounded and prohibited other surviving prisoners of war, including medics, from providing it. In those hours, lives were lost not only to the explosion, but to deliberate cruelty.

Almost a week after the attack, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the launch of a fact-finding mission. However, after half a year he officially disbanded the mission, citing the lack of security guarantees and conditions necessary for work at the site. For three years after the attack, no international organization has been granted access to the colony. Russia has denied both the ICRC and the UN mission full and unhindered access to the site, preventing the investigation from ever starting. When a state destroys evidence and seals off locations of mass violence, it does so because it knows that the truth would expose the nature of its regime.

Ukraine insists on the urgent investigation of the mass killing and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Olenivka colony and other crimes against Ukrainian citizens who have been and remain in captivity.

While Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia are subjected to torture and cruel treatment, Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine receive humane treatment. They are held in accordance with international standards, receive proper nutrition and medical care, and have the opportunity to communicate with their families. They are regularly visited by representatives of the Red Cross and other international organizations, which confirm Ukraine’s compliance with all norms of the Geneva Conventions. International observers, including the ICRC, have access to the places where Russian prisoners of war are held, which demonstrates Ukraine’s full transparency. The contrast between the two sides illustrates a fundamental truth: Ukraine upholds human dignity even in war; Russia destroys it.

The Russian Federation routinely obstructs and sabotages prisoner-exchange efforts, using both prisoners of war and illegally detained civilians as bargaining chips to gain political leverage and delay peace negotiations. A state willing to exploit human suffering as a negotiation tool reveals its true priorities — power, not peace, cruelty over compassion.

Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine has also had catastrophic consequences for children. Entire boarding schools were emptied, with children loaded onto buses and disappearing without a trace during what the Kremlin called “evacuation” procedures. Many children were also separated from their parents during Russian so-called “filtration” procedures. These crimes constitute acts of genocide — acts aimed not only at individuals but at the destruction of a nation’s future.

The Kremlin regime continues the criminal practice of forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children and in every possible way impedes their repatriation and reunification with their families in Ukraine. As of today, Ukraine has over 19,000 reports of unlawful deportations and forced transfers of Ukrainian children. Russia does not provide any information about these children to Ukraine or to any international organizations. Silence, in this case, is not ignorance — it is concealment.

Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova publicly claimed that more than 700,000 Ukrainian children have been “resettled” in Russia. On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued warrants of arrest for V. Putin and M. Lvova-Belova for alleged war crimes of unlawful deportation of children from temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.

After the deportation of Ukrainian children, the Russian occupiers continue to commit illegal acts against them, such as changing their citizenship, transferring them to Russian families and refusing to allow them to leave Russia at the border. At least 380 Ukrainian children have been placed under so-called “temporary guardianship” (illegally adopted) in Russia. This is not only the physical abduction of children — it is a deliberate effort to sever their ties to Ukraine, erase their identity, and reshape their memories. It is a strategy of ethnic cleansing conducted under the guise of humanitarian rhetoric.

We are dealing not only with the physical abduction of children, but with a centralized attempt to erase their Ukrainian identity. Russian officials actively participate in this genocidal campaign, destroying connections and any memories of deported children about Ukraine. These actions amount to a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing in violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The unlawful deportation and forced transfer of children are serious violations of international law and human rights, forming part of Russia’s wider pattern of abuses in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories — including efforts to erase Ukrainian identity, deny education in the Ukrainian language, indoctrinate and militarize children, and separate them from their families. Every aspect of these policies reflects the same logic: Russia seeks domination not only over territory, but over identity, memory and culture.
Ukraine and Canada launched the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, joined by 41 countries and the Council of Europe, as part of the “Bring Kids Back UA” initiative. So far, 1,835 Ukrainian children have been successfully returned from deportation, forced transfers or temporarily occupied territories — a process Russia systematically attempts to obstruct.

Every Ukrainian – both defenders and civilians – must be returned from Russian captivity. The return of captives is not only a matter of justice but also a prerequisite for restoring peace. The release of captives on an “all-for-all” basis would be a vital step toward achieving peace and demonstrating the Russian Federation’s genuine willingness to pursue it. Ukraine has consistently called for an “all-for-all” prisoner exchange, but so far, the Russian Federation has rejected this proposal.

Ukraine will not cease its efforts until all its people are brought back home. Ukraine will not stop until the perpetrators of these atrocities are held accountable, and will not allow the world to forget these crimes.

Russia’s treatment of Ukrainian prisoners, civilians, and children reveals the true nature of the Russian state: cruelty as a tool of governance, secrecy as a shield for crimes, and the destruction of identity as a political strategy. These are not isolated actions but a coherent system of violence. Understanding this pattern is essential for the international community. A state that uses torture will continue torturing; a state that steals children will continue stealing children; a state that rejects oversight will continue committing crimes in the dark. Ukraine’s struggle, therefore, is not only for its own citizens — it is for the preservation of the principles that protect humanity as a whole.

This is not only Ukraine’s fight. It is a fight for the belief that human life matters. For the idea that truth must prevail over fear. For the conviction that even in the darkest times, justice can be restored. And until every Ukrainian returns home, until every child is found, until every perpetrator is held to account, the world must stand with Ukraine — because silence, too, can be a form of violence.