The Ministry of Defense told how many Ukrainians died in Russian captivity

At least 177 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been killed in Russian colonies and prisons since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. Thousands of others are being tortured while in captivity.

This was stated by Victoria Tsymbaliuk, a representative of the Ministry of Defense, in particular, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Politico reports. She emphasized that the more time our defenders and civilians spend in captivity, "the closer they are to death."

According to her, due to the lack of international control, the real number of deaths in Russian prisons is probably much higher.

"This is the number we know. But, of course, not all the bodies have been returned, and Russia has not even confirmed that many of them were held in captivity," explained Tsymbaliuk.

As a result of the exchanges between Kyiv and Moscow, about 3,600 Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians deported by the occupiers from the occupied territories were returned from Russian captivity. At the same time, thousands of Ukrainians still remain in the hands of the aggressor country.

"The ill-treatment of prisoners in Russia has been widely reported for many years. Repressions against civil society and independent observers have contributed to the normalization of violence and created a sense of impunity among prison staff. The situation with Ukrainian prisoners of war is even worse: their torture was massive, systematic and took place with the blessing of the Russian leadership," the publication says, citing a report released on October 3 by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The report states that some public figures in the Russian Federation openly encouraged the inhumane treatment and even murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Since March 2023, 11 deaths of Ukrainians and an unspecified number of suicide attempts have been recorded, as well as "one documented case of suicide due to repeated acts of torture."

Danylo Kravets, a 23-year-old international student from Lviv who became a UAV operator after the full-scale Russian invasion, spent 175 days in four Russian detention centers before being released in an exchange in April 2023. After being captured near Vuhledar in November 2022, the occupiers told him to choose between losing a finger or a leg and then subjected him to a mock execution. A tattoo on his body depicting a mountain led the war criminals to conclude that he was planning to escape.

"Torture and beatings are common for me. When I arrived at the prison in Donetsk, our heads were covered and we were told to take off our clothes. They always tell you to take off your clothes. They really know how to find a reason to torture or beat you," said the defender, who lost 16 kilograms in captivity.

The UN listed cases where Ukrainian prisoners of war resorted to eating worms, soap, or paper to satisfy their hunger. Other reports of ill-treatment by the Russians include sticking needles under prisoners' fingernails, strangling and threatening to attack animals, as well as forcing them to sing Russian "patriotic" songs and watching others being tortured.

"The Geneva Conventions, the rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war, state that countries at war must allow independent observers unrestricted access to prisoners and allow them to send and receive letters. Russia has a mixed record when it comes to both," Politico writes.

Victoria Tsymbaliuk, a representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, noted that Russia refuses to confirm that thousands of prisoners are in captivity, which makes their desperate relatives guess every day whether their loved ones are still "on earth or in heaven."

For example, 32-year-old Ukrainian Kateryna Nazarii said she has not spoken or heard from her husband since he was captured near Mariupol 830 days ago. Shortly after he disappeared, she saw in a horrifying video on a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel that he was in Russian hands.

The woman learned from the released Ukrainians that her husband was being held in a colony in the occupied part of Luhansk region, although the Russian authorities have repeatedly denied knowing about him.

Kateryna feels a wave of fear every time her phone rings, worried that it will bring news of her husband's death.

"We are returning to the Middle Ages. If the world is silent now, Russia will take it as a sign that it can continue with impunity," she said.

As a reminder, on October 2, the PACE session in Strasbourg adopted a resolution that for the first time raised the issue of the release and further rehabilitation of Ukrainian military and civilians held captive by Russia and those who went missing. Russia is also required to comply with the provisions of international humanitarian law.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the Kremlin-controlled DPR terrorist organization organized another trial of Ukrainian soldiers who were captured after the heroic defense of Mariupol. Bohdan Potapov, Dmytro Braiko, and Eskender Kudusov were put on trial and sentenced to almost 30 years in prison by the enemy.

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