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Military operation in Ukraine

UN documents unofficial Ukrainian prisons for Russians in seven regions

The majority of cases of ill-treating Russian prisoners of war were recorded in these detention facilities, including beatings with plastic pipes, batons, and whips, waterboarding, dog attacks, and electric shocks

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. Unofficial Ukrainian detention facilities for Russian prisoners of war have been uncovered in seven regions, with POWs reporting that torture and cruel treatment occur there, the Izvestia daily reported, citing data from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

According to the newspaper, in 2025, such facilities were located in the Kharkov, Kiev, and Nikolayev regions of Ukraine, and in 2024, in areas of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Zaporozhye, and Kherson regions not controlled by Russia. The publication says, citing OHCHR data, that the majority of cases of ill-treatment of Russian prisoners of war were recorded in these detention facilities, including beatings with plastic pipes, batons, and whips, waterboarding, dog attacks, and electric shocks.

Over the past four years, 389 prisoners of war out of 717 interviewed reported incidents like this, and at least two deaths occurred in the prisons. In almost all cases, the ill-treatment ceased after the Russian prisoners were transferred to official detention facilities, the newspaper writes.

The UN OHCHR office told Izvestia that it calls for the prevention of ill-treatment and torture of prisoners of war in such facilities in Ukraine, and for those responsible to be held accountable.

"Detention of people outside the formal internment infrastructure facilities established by Ukraine increases the risk of ill-treatment and other violations of the Third Geneva Convention," UN representatives told the newspaper.

Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia that it's impossible to give an exact number of such places, as prisoners are often not registered until they are transferred to official facilities. "As the frontline advances, such places are dismantled at one location and moved to the positions of another unit. These could be basements or temporary facilities a few kilometers from the front line, usually in the gray zone," the diplomat said.

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