The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) says both Russia and Ukraine have tortured prisoners of war (POWs), including beatings, electric shocks, and humiliating treatment such as forced nudity, during the conflict that started with Moscow's unprovoked invasion of its neighbor in late February.
In a speech broadcast on November 15 to reporters in Geneva via video link from Kyiv, Matilda Bogner, the head of the UN Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said the OHCHR had identified patterns of torture and ill-treatment of POWs held by Russian and Moscow-backed armed groups, and also documented violations committed by Ukrainian state agents toward POWs.
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Under international law, "the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment is absolute, even -- indeed especially -- in times of armed conflict," Bogner told reporters.
The UN's monitoring mission based its findings on interviews with more than 150 POWs on each side of the conflict since April. The interviews with Ukrainian POWs were conducted after their release, since Russia did not grant access to detention sites, Bogner said.
Asked by the media to compare the scale of the abuses by both sides, Bogner said the mistreatment of Ukrainian prisoners by Russians was "fairly systematic," whereas she said it was "not systematic" for Ukraine to mistreat Russian soldiers.
Most of the abuses by Kyiv against Russian POWs were limited to three internment facilities, Bogner said, and were more common during the initial phase of capture.
She said the "vast majority" of Ukrainian prisoners interviewed reported torture and ill-treatment, giving examples of dog attacks, mock executions, electric shocks, and sexual violence.
One man who was tortured in an isolation ward in a prison near Olenivka in Donetsk told the team that members of Moscow-backed armed groups "attached wires to my genitalia and nose and shocked me. They simply had fun and were not interested in my replies to their questions."
Russia's Defense Ministry did not immediately comment. Russia denies torture or other forms of maltreatment of POWs.
On the Ukrainian side, Bogner reported "credible allegations" of summary executions of Russian prisoners "hors de combat" -- a term that defines persons who are incapable of performing their combat duties during war.
"While Ukraine has launched criminal investigations in at least two cases, OHCHR has not seen progress in these proceedings," Bogner said.
Other Russian prisoners reported poor and humiliating conditions of transport and of being forced into vehicles naked, with their hands tied behind their backs. The UN team of investigators had also documented cases of so-called "welcome beatings" at a prison.
Bogner said that one Russian POW told investigators that on the way from the evacuation point to a transit camp, "the car stopped at seven or eight checkpoints and at each one, the Ukrainian servicemen accompanying us offered the military at the checkpoint the chance to beat us. Some agreed and punched us.”
Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment on the accusations.
Kyiv has previously said it checks all information regarding the treatment of POWs and will investigate any violations and take appropriate legal action.
UN investigators also want to travel to the recently liberated city of Kherson in southern Ukraine to verify allegations of nearly 80 cases of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention and “understand whether the scale is in fact larger than what we have documented already," Bogner told reporters, warning of a “dire humanitarian situation” in Kherson.