As the Kremlin steps up its grinding attack on Ukraine, United Nations observers are seeing a surge in civilian casualties along with widespread reports of Russian atrocities and war crimes.
But as Russia’s invasion approaches the three-year mark, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a broadcast interview late Thursday, called the incoming U.S. president, Donald Trump, “strong and unpredictable” and said he hoped those qualities could help resolve the war.
In a New Year’s address Zelensky said his country would never give up its goal of being once again whole and free from Russian aggression. “We know that peace will not be given to us as a gift, but we will do everything to stop Russia and end the war,” he said.
A new report by the U.N.’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) on Tuesday, covering the months from September through November, finds that Russian troops continue to torture war prisoners and sexually abuse both Ukrainian women and men.
Interviews with 42 recently released prisoners of war, including 11 women, revealed that they all had been tortured while in Russian custody. Among the reported abuses: POWs reported beatings, electric shocks and being thrown into long-term solitary confinement.
Most casualties – some 93% – occurred in areas still controlled by the Ukrainian government, particularly in Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Kherson, where military activity remains intense.
The report describes intense attacks by Russian invasion forces on populated areas, deliberate strikes on energy infrastructure, and efforts to restrict fundamental rights of Ukrainians living in the combat zones.
Stories of 'loss and human suffering'
Targeting the most vulnerable, Russian authorities have introduced what the HRMMU describes as a new cultural policy that’s aimed at “integrating” children from occupied territories into Russian society. Ukrainian children are reportedly forced into military training that includes lessons on how to use grenades, anti-tank weapons and small arms.
“Behind each of the facts and figures in this report are stories of loss and human suffering, showing the devastating impact of the war across Ukraine,” said the head of HRMMU, Danielle Bell, whose mission is part of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, in Geneva.
In its report, HRMMU details executions, torture, and ill-treatment of captive soldiers, noting that since August there has been a notable increase in credible allegations of executions of Ukrainian POWs, with at least 62 victims in 19 incidents.
Independent verification of these killings has confirmed the deaths of 15 Ukrainian POWs, the U.N. says.
Ukrainian forces are not innocent of wrongdoing and the report catalogues mistreatment of Russian POWs, “mostly in transit locations at the initial stages of captivity.” The report says these instances are more isolated when compared to the systematic way Ukrainians are abused by the Russians invaders.
For Ukrainian civilians, casualties remain high, with September seeing the highest number since July 2022. Nearly all civilian casualties during the reporting period were result of explosive weapons “with wide-area effects in populated areas.”
Most casualties near war frontlines
About three-quarters of the civilian casualties (417 killed and 2,221 injured) occurred near the frontlines, mainly in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government, and were the result of Russian offensive operations, particularly in the Donetsk region.
The U.N. reports that Russia, in violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law, is also imposing its laws over occupied regions and requiring Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship to maintain their property rights. Homes forcibly abandoned during the fighting have been confiscated by Russian forces, making it nearly impossible for displaced residents to return.
Religious freedoms are also being restricted by both the Russian and Ukrainian governments.
