https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/12/11/russias-systematic-torture-of-ukrain...
- Russian authorities and military forces have systematically tortured and ill-treated Ukrainian prisoners of war.
- The evidence indicates that their physical and psychological torture is a widespread pattern intended to break prisoners’ sense of self and human dignity.
- Russian authorities should end torture and the ill-treatment of Ukrainian detainees, immediately and unconditionally release civilians unlawfully detained and allow them to return to their homes and grant monitors access to detention sites; Russian authorities responsible for torture and other abuse should be investigated and prosecuted.
(Kyiv, December 11, 2025) – Russian authorities and military forces have systematically tortured and ill-treated Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) at the time of their capture and throughout their detention, Human Rights Watch said today. Such abuses constitute grave violations of the Geneva Conventions that apply in international armed conflict and are war crimes.
Torture of any kind against detainees—POW, civilian or otherwise—is strictly prohibited under international law and may constitute a crime against humanity.
United Nations bodies, Ukrainian human rights organizations, and Human Rights Watch have interviewed hundreds of former POWs and the evidence indicates that their physical and psychological torture is a widespread pattern intended to break prisoners’sense of self and human dignity. Russia is holding thousands of Ukrainian POWs in atrocious conditions, deprived of adequate food, medical care, and basic hygiene.
“Russian authorities’ abhorrent systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war is a serious violation of core protections under international humanitarian law,” said Holly Cartner, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch. “POWs face daily life-threatening ordeals in Russian custody, and all those responsible for these atrocities should be held to account.”
Between July and October 2025, Human Rights Watch conducted in-depth interviews with 12 former POWs captured in Donetska and Luhanska regions of Ukraine between March and July 2022. Most were interviewed in person in Ukraine, with some over the phone. Human Rights Watch also interviewed family members, human rights activists, and Ukrainian officials.
Former POWs reported abuse in multiple detention sites in Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. They described severe beatings, stress positions, sleep deprivation, mock executions, administration of electric shocks, and attacks by dogs. They said they experienced torture from the moment of their capture throughout their time in detention.
