More than 95% of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees held by Russian authorities face widespread and systematic torture, sexual violence, and severe ill-treatment, according to United Nations monitoring data presented at a UN Security Council meeting.
UN Findings Detail Systematic Abuse in Russian Captivity
United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Claudia Fuentes Julio reported that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented harrowing conditions inside Russian detention facilities since February 2022. According to Fuentes Julio, monitoring shows that more than 95% of interviewed Ukrainian POWs experienced torture or ill-treatment. Furthermore, more than half reported acts of sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, beatings while nude, targeted blows to the genitals, and electric shocks applied to genitals and nipples.
The OHCHR has also documented the execution of 129 Ukrainian prisoners of war at the beginning of their captivity and the deaths of 48 others in custody resulting from torture, denial of medical care, or inhumane detention conditions. Fuentes Julio noted that while the OHCHR has documented torture and ill-treatment of Russian and third-country national prisoners of war held by Ukraine, those violations occurred on a fundamentally different scale.
Testimonies From Released Captives
Former detainees speaking at the informal UN Security Council meeting provided firsthand accounts of the abuse. Khuan Alberto Levya Garsiya, an active member of the Ukrainian military who spent 1,183 days in Russian captivity, described enduring daily beatings, electrocution, excessive exercise in freezing temperatures, and sexual abuse. Garsiya stated that guards targeted him particularly because of his Latino name, falsely accusing him of being a mercenary and an American spy, and reported that two of his friends were beaten to death in detention centers in the Donetsk region.
Crimean Tatar activist Leniie Umerova, who was released in a prisoner exchange in 2024 after being detained while trying to visit her ailing father in Crimea, described being moved through seven different detention facilities in what she termed a carousel of repression.
Government Response and Accountability Calls
Ukrainian officials pressed the international community for greater accountability and increased pressure on Moscow. Oleg Gushin of the Ukrainian government’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War stated that Kyiv has identified more than 300 places of detention inside Russia and occupied Ukrainian territory. While more than 9,000 Ukrainians have been returned through exchanges, Gushin noted that thousands remain in captivity.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s Ombudsman, emphasized that Russia has turned torture into state policy, noting that as of the end of 2025, 337 Ukrainian POWs were deliberately and brutally executed. Ukraine’s Chargé d’Affaires Volodymyr Pavlichenko similarly called for heightened international pressure to ensure proper documentation of these war crimes and accountability for perpetrators.
Russian Rejection of Allegations
Rejecting the accusations during the session, Maria Zabolotskaya, Russia’s Deputy U.N. Representative, dismissed the proceedings as a disinformation campaign. Zabolotskaya alleged instead that Russian prisoners held by Ukraine were subjected to torture, degradation, and moral and physical abuse.
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