Russian Soldiers Torturing Ukrainian Prisoners of War

Ukrainian prisoners of war are being tortured by Russian troops, including by castration, according to a June 17 report from the Times.

The report details the account of two Ukrainian soldiers, age 25 and 28, who were recently released from Russian captivity in a prisoner swap. Upon their return, the two became suicidal and were referred to psychologist Anzhelika Yatsenko who specializes in helping deeply troubled young men.

For several weeks, the two were unable to explain to Yatsenko exactly what they had suffered. “I knew from previous cases they had probably been tortured,” she told the Times. “As someone who gets referred the hardest cases, mostly men under 35, it’s very hard to surprise me.”

After she finally convinced them to disclose the exact type of torture they had suffered—being savagely beaten and then castrated with a pocketknife with no anesthetic—she was too stunned to proceed.

[It was] the first time I behaved not like a professional psychologist. I’d never heard anything so horrible. I told them I needed the bathroom and went and cried and cried. I didn’t want them to see as they might think there’s no hope.
—Anzhelika Yatsenko

Russians have also been accused of torturing Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians with mock executions, hoodings, rape and electric shock.

State endorsed? The Russian government denies that it advocates torturing prisoners of war or civilians. But a new report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture says the abundance of reports from Ukrainians and the consistency of the methods allegedly used means the practice is almost certainly “state endorsed.”

The similarity of the allegations suggests “a level of coordination, planning and organization, as well as the direct authorization, deliberate policy or official tolerance from superior authorities,” the report states.