GENEVA: Russian authorities have subjected civilian detainees in Ukrainian areas it occupies to torture, including sexual violence, in a “widespread and systematic manner,” the United Nations said Tuesday.
In a fresh report, the UN rights office concluded that Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 “has subjected Ukrainian civilian detainees to consistent patterns of serious violations” of international law.
The report said UN investigators had interviewed 216 civilians released from detention in the occupied territories since June 2023.
A full 92 percent of them “gave consistent and detailed accounts of of having been subjected to torture or ill-treatment during their captivity,” it said.
“Severe beatings with a variety of instruments, such as batons and sticks, electric shocks to various body parts (and) mock executions,” were among the methods described.
Many also said they had suffered threats of death and violence to themselves or a loved one, various forms of humiliation and “a variety of stress positions.”
“Many interviewees were subjected to multiple forms of torture or ill-treatment while in detention,” the report said.
In May 2025, the Ukrainian authorities reported that around 1,800 Ukrainian civilians were being detained by Russia, the rights office said, stressing that the actual number was likely significantly higher.
The report cautioned that Russia’s frequent disregard of legal safeguards, combined with a dire lack of accountability had “placed many Ukrainian civilians outside the effective protection of the law during their detention.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk pointed out in a statement that “people have been arbitrarily picked off the streets in occupied territory, charged under shifting legal bases and held for days, weeks, months and even years.”
“It is essential that the human rights of civilian detainees, who have been severely impacted by this terrible conflict, are prioritized in any peace talks,” he said.
Tuesday’s report also documented “instances of torture and ill-treatment” of civilians detained by Ukrainian authorities.
As of late July, Ukraine counted more than 2,250 conflict-related detainees in official pre-trial and penal facilities, according to the report.
The vast majority were Ukrainian nationals and only a few were Russians.
It found that in territories it controlled, Ukraine had detained many of its own citizens on charges related to national security, including treason and espionage.
Others faced charges of collaboration linked to their interaction with the Russian occupying authorities, the report said.
Such charges covered a broad range of ordinary work, it said, pointing out that people had been prosecuted for carrying out emergency services, construction, humanitarian relief and garbage removal during the occupation.