There is torture of prisoners of war on both sides – but Russia is doing this “systematically”, the UN says. Many of the victims are never able to recover from the horror they experienced. One of them is Yuri, who returned to Ukraine but can no longer speak. “You are our sunshine, our joy, our pride”, his mother said through tears and stroked her son's head. About two weeks ago, this video shook people all over Ukraine, reports ARD.
The footage shows 22-year-old soldier Yury Hulchuk, who fought in Mariupol and then spent two years in Russian captivity. His mother Milana told the Ukrainian media: “I knew for a long time that he no longer speaks. His comrades, with whom he was in the same cell, said that already in June 2023 he stopped talking.
The Ukrainian has become unrecognizable
Before the war, her son spoke four languages – English and Chinese, along with Russian and Ukrainian. He wanted to work as a translator. Now, however, the mother simply cannot recognize him – his eyes seem empty, he doesn't respond to her hugs and kisses. All these are the consequences of systematic torture in Russian captivity, states ARD.
„Only skin and bones came back,” says the mother. Her son lost 50 kg during captivity, before weighing 100.
Only a few grams of bread and porridge a day
„He is tall, I could hide behind him like behind a wall. And now he has become like a skeleton covered with skin,”, says Milana. Hunger is also a means of torture. “We just don't know yet to what extent Russia uses this method,”, she says.
The stories of other released prisoners of war are similar: they received only a few grams of bread or porridge a day, they had to drink boiling water. They also talk about beatings, kicks, electric shock batons on the genitals, rapes and imitations of executions, writes ARD.
The situation in Russia "cannot be compared to anything"
Danielle Bell, who works for the UN Human Rights Commission in Ukraine, told the German public-law media that although she had been to Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan, she had not seen the kind of torture that Russia is doing to Ukrainian prisoners of war . In her words, it cannot be compared to anything: “It is brutal, merciless, shocking. It's terrible. It has to be stopped”.
The UN organization has no information on whether Russia has taken steps to seek accountability for this widespread system of systematic torture, “even though prisoners of war are expressly protected by the Geneva Convention”, Bell told ARD.
And Russians talk about bullying
Bell and her team also spoke with Russian soldiers who were held captive in Ukraine. And they talk about bullying and beatings – but there is a big difference in systematics and scales.
According to UN data, about half of the Russian prisoners of war say that they were beaten during their detention. However, the requirements of the Geneva Convention were observed in the Ukrainian camps, Bell pointed out to ARD.
Torture is widespread in Russia
„We have documented that in Russia torture and mockery are carried out in many places – from the prison staff, from the FSB secret service, from the Russian security services, from the Russian soldiers, from many different places,” Bell told the German public-law media. And the captives were tortured to death. This is not about isolated cases - both in prisons in Russia and in the regions occupied by Russia in Ukraine.
Roman, who does not want his last name to be named, confirms this. He was released from captivity a year and a half ago, but is still struggling with the consequences. According to him, the worst was in Kursk.
„There is a corridor there, and on either side there are stairs leading down. The boys were brought down these stairs, naked, there were three of them – my companion and two others. They were ordered to rape each other.“ After the men refused, they threatened them that they would “finish them off with batons”.
Many of the prisoners of war are victims of sexual violence
In this case, it was only a threat, Roman points out to ARD. But UN figures show that many Ukrainian soldiers have been victims of sexual abuse while in captivity in Russia. Not all survived – some were tortured to death, died from diseases or from their wounds that were not treated, there were even suicides.
Roman has survived. But he is also scarred, his wife Irina told the German public-law media. After his return, she saw the consequences of the torture: “The fact is that they manifest only later“. If, for example, there are problems in the family or something needs to be done quickly, Roman gets upset – he is all trembling and tense. His memory is bad, he can't concentrate, he can't work. He would like to play with his child, but his whole body hurts.
Yuri gradually regains his speech
22-year-old Yuri is currently undergoing treatment. To the surprise of the doctors, only a few days after his return to Ukraine, he started talking again. “Now he talks all the time – as if everything that had been accumulated in him suddenly got uncorked”, says the mother and cannot help but wonder how such cruelty is possible.
Rebecca Bart ARD