The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine on Tuesday released a report which details the arbitrary detention, torture, and occasional killing of civilians by Russian armed forces in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The report describes the Russian Federation’s widespread practice of arbitrarily detaining civilians in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. The UN monitoring mission documented 864 individual cases of arbitrary civilian detention by Russian forces, for reasons including “their perceived support of Ukraine, their status as former Ukrainian servicepersons, or their perceived political opinion or affiliation.” The report also notes 75 cases in which civilians were arbitrarily detained by Ukrainian armed forces.
The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner alleges in their report that “many civilian detainees were held incommunicado, in unofficial places of detention, often in deplorable conditions,” which at times included being transferred to other occupied regions in Ukraine or to Russia.
The report further describes cases in which civilians had been tortured and ill-treated by Russian forces during their detention. It also details the summary execution of 77 civilians while they were arbitrarily detained by the Russian Federation.
The UN report reflects a continuing trend of international humanitarian law violations by Russian forces over the course of the invasion of Ukraine, which has been extensively documented by human rights groups and international observers. The UN has repeatedly criticized Russia for its disregard of the Geneva Conventions and of civilian casualties, and organizations such as Human Rights Watch have highlighted widespread mistreatment of prisoners of war during the conflict.
