More than 95% of Ukrainian prisoners of war were tortured in Russia. At the same time, Ukraine’s attitude towards prisoners of war from Russia is radically different. This was stated by the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Danielle Bell, on the Dutch TV channel NOS, Komersant ukrainskyi
reports.
According to a UN study, many Ukrainian soldiers are structurally malnourished and often subjected to ill-treatment in Russian captivity.
“Prisoners are tortured during the first interrogation. They are beaten with metal rods and sticks, stripped naked, and severely electrocuted. It’s horrible. It is certainly the worst thing I have seen in my 20 years of visiting prisoners on behalf of the UN. This happened to more than 95% of Ukrainian prisoners of war. This is tantamount to a war crime,” the official stressed.
According to her, information about the captivity of Ukrainian prisoners of war is most often collected during conversations after their return.
At the same time, the monitoring mission has direct access to Russian prisoners of war and can directly assess the place of detention.
“The Ukrainian authorities give us access to camps and temporary prisons for prisoners of war. In the early days, there were some problems there, but over the past 1.5 years, we have observed conditions of detention that meet the norms of the humanitarian law of war,” the head of the monitoring mission said.
It should be noted that a 55-year-old defender of Mariupol, Oleksandr Ishchenko from the Azov Brigade, died in Russian captivity.