Russia has illegally imprisoned several thousand Ukrainians. Many of them were tortured. Others are forced into slave labor.

Ukrainian civilians speak of a network of official and unofficial prisons and concentration camps across Russia and the territories they occupy. There are supposed to be thousands of Ukrainians illegally.

news agency writes News agency (AP).

Ukrainian prisoners are regularly subjected to torture, psychological abuse and forced labour. And according to the Associated Press, the Russians are planning to build more such prisons. The disclosure comes in a comprehensive article. It is based, among other things, on descriptions from Ukrainians who were said to have been in these prisons.

The famous news agency also reviewed satellite imagery, social media and government documents. It confirms the existence of a widespread Russian system of detention and ill-treatment of civilians, which is a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Some civilians have been held for days or weeks, while others have been missing for more than a year. Almost all of those released said they had been tortured or witnessed torture. Most of them were moved from one place to another without explanation.

Russia does not admit that it has civilians as prisoners. But according to the Associated Press, the prisoners act as bargaining chips in the future in exchange for Russian soldiers. The UN has also said there is evidence of civilians being used as human shields near the front lines.

used as slaves

Some prisoners are said to have been taken out of the prison in caravans normally used to transport livestock. The front line flight ended. There they were forced to dig trenches for Russian soldiers for 12 hours or more.

Other Ukrainian civilians were forced to dig mass graves for fellow prisoners who did not survive. According to the Associated Press, a man who refused to dig was shot on the spot.

A map from the Associated Press shows that the prisons are located on both sides of the Russian-Ukrainian side. Most of them are on the Ukrainian side. Russia may plan to increase prison capacity. This is an increase in the number of prisoners by several thousand. A Russian government document obtained by the Associated Press in January outlined plans for 25 new camps for prisoners and six more detention centers. This should happen in occupied Ukraine by 2026.

In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in May. Therefore, Russia can send people from the areas under the state of emergency, which includes all of occupied Ukraine, to areas outside of it, such as Russia.

This makes it easy to deport Ukrainians who oppose the Russian occupation deep into Russia indefinitely. According to the news agency, this happened in several cases.

Many civilians are arrested for alleged minor infractions such as speaking Ukrainian or simply for being a youth in an occupied area. Often without charge. Others are accused and accused of being “terrorists”, combatants or people “opposing the special military operation”.

The Russian army uses hundreds as forced labor to dig trenches and other fortifications, as well as mass graves.

Torture is routine

The Associated Press also reported that torture is routine in these prisons. This applies, among other things, to frequent electric shocks, blows that split the skull and broken ribs. Several former prisoners told the Associated Press that they had witnessed deaths.

Ukrainian authorities believe that around 10,000 civilians may have been arrested. The figure comes from Ukrainian merchant Oleksandr Kononiko. These are based, among other things, on post-release interviews with some civilians and more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers returned in prisoner exchanges.

Ukraine said in June that about 150 civilians had been released in Ukrainian-controlled territory, and the Russians deny holding others.

– They say we don’t have these people, you are lying, says Kononeko.

I had to sing the Russian national anthem

Russian forces arrested Victoria Andryusha, a primary school math teacher, on March 25 last year. According to the Associated Press, this happened after they ransacked the parents’ home in Chernihiv. Pictures of Russian military vehicles were found on her phone.

On March 28, she was in a prison in Russia. Her captors told her that Ukraine had fallen and that no one wanted any civilians back.

For her, like many others, torture came in the form of, among other things, fists and clubs. Men in black beat her in the prison corridor and in a tiled room apparently designed for quick cleaning. On a television screen above it, Russian propaganda was being played.

Along with the physical torture, letters appeared that worried her. Andryusha is told again and again that she will die in prison in Russia, that they will cut her with knives beyond recognition, that her government does not care for a teacher in captivity, that her family has forgotten her, and that her language is useless.

They forced the prisoners to recite verse after verse of the Russian national anthem and other patriotic songs.

– Their task was to influence us psychologically. To show us that we are not human, as you say.

Then one day, without explanation, his prison term ended for her and another woman who was in captivity with her. They are put on a bus. They were soon joined by Ukrainian soldiers being held elsewhere. The release came in the form of a prisoner exchange with the Russians.