206 Ukrainian soldiers died in Russian captivity: AR learned details of torture
Of the more than 5,000 prisoners of war that Russia has returned to Ukraine, at least 206 died in captivity, and another 245 prisoners of war died at the hands of Russian soldiers on the battlefield, the Associated Press reports, citing Ukrainian authorities and prosecutors.
The number of POW deaths is expected to rise as more bodies are returned and identified, but forensic experts face significant difficulties in determining causes of death.
In some cases, internal organs are missing. In other cases, it appears that bruises or injuries have been hidden or removed.
According to Ukrainian officials, the mutilation of the bodies is an attempt by Russia to hide the true causes of death. Another obstacle is the extremely severe decomposition, the interlocutors specify.
"They are holding the bodies until they reach a state where nothing can be determined," said Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Violence in Russian prisons is likely one of the factors contributing to the high number of deaths of Ukrainian prisoners of war, according to human rights groups, the United Nations, the Ukrainian government and a Ukrainian forensic expert who conducted autopsies on the bodies of the prisoners.
Of the 206 Ukrainian military personnel who died in captivity, more than 50 died during a Russian missile strike on the colony in Olenivka in the summer of 2022. And 245 Ukrainian military personnel were killed by the Russians immediately after being captured, according to the Prosecutor General's Office.
The AP interviewed relatives of 21 Ukrainian prisoners of war who died in captivity. Autopsies conducted in Ukraine showed that five of them died of heart failure, including soldiers aged 22, 39 and 43. Four others died of tuberculosis or pneumonia, and one each of infection, asphyxiation and blunt force trauma to the head.
One of the prisoners of war was tortured with electric shock. He was beaten just days before he died of heart failure and extreme exhaustion, according to a forensic report reviewed by journalists.
Other autopsies showed that the bodies of prisoners of war showed signs of gangrene or untreated infections.
Forensic medical expert Inna Padey noted that these and other cases indicate that physical abuse, untreated injuries, and illnesses likely contributed to the deaths of many soldiers.
"Under normal or humane conditions, this would not have been fatal," she noted.
- Since the start of the full-scale invasion , 75 criminal proceedings have been initiated for the murder of 268 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
- On May 23, it became known that the occupiers executed two Ukrainian soldiers in the Pokrov direction.