GENEVA (AN) — The U.N. human rights office found evidence that prisoners of war were executed, tortured and abused by both sides in Russia's war on Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers killed at least 25 Russian prisoners of war and wounded combatants, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, said in a new report on Friday that found Russia also executed at least 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
"I was hungry all the time. You eat but you don't feel like you have eaten," a Ukrainian POW was quoted as saying about the conditions in a Russian pre-trial detention facility. "I weighed 106 kilograms, and now my weight is 75 kg."
It's the U.N. human rights office's first major report on how prisoners of war have been treated during the year since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. A second new report from OHCHR provided six months of findings between August 2022 and January 2023.
In that report, some 86% of the 142 Ukrainian POWs – 122 men, 20 women – interviewed after their release and repatriation or return spoke of torture and ill treatment at the hands of their Russian captors.
Serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws were found "at all stages of captivity," it said, including summary executions and deaths of wounded POWs due to medical inattention.
The 'heavy toll' on civilians
OHCHR also found evidence of torture and ill treatment among 46% of the 88 Russian POWs – 87 men, one woman – interviewed at eight Ukrainian internment centers or after their release. Most of the cases occurred at the start of their captivity, or during initial interrogations or evacuations.
"They [soldiers from Ukrainian armed forces] didn't let me sleep, tied me to something, kicked me the whole night, beat my head with some hard object, and said: “You take up arms again, we will kill your family,” a Russian POW was quoted as saying.
Beyond the treatment of prisoners, the report cited 5,987 civilian casualties, including 1,605 persons killed and 4,382 persons injured, in those six months.
As of this week, OHCHR has recorded 8,317 civilian deaths and 13,809 people injured in Ukraine due to the conflict. The actual casualty numbers are likely considerably higher, since the figures only include cases OHCHR could verify.
"A large number of civilian casualties resulted from attacks where explosive weapons with wide area effects were used," it said. "The war has taken a heavy toll on civilians, with acts of hostilities killing groups of individuals and in some cases multiple members of the same families at once."
