Ukraine managed to return 95 more defenders. How many of them may be in captivity and what conditions the prisoners are held in - the investigator told
Kyiv • UNN
Today, thanks to the mediation efforts of the United Arab Emirates, another 95 Ukrainian defenders, including military personnel, members of the National Guard and border guards, were released from Russian captivity, bringing the total number of Ukrainians released from Russian captivity since the beginning of the full-scale invasion to 3,405, although the exact number of those still in captivity remains unknown due to Russia's lack of transparency.
Today, on July 17, another 95 Ukrainian defenders were released from Russian captivity, including military personnel, members of the National Guard and border guards. Investigative journalist of the Media Initiative for Human Rights Maria Klymyk told UNN in a commentary how many more Ukrainian soldiers could be in Russian captivity, where and in what conditions they could be held.
Details
Today, another 95 Ukrainian defenders, including servicemen, members of the National Guard and border guards, were released from Russian captivity thanks to the mediation efforts of the United Arab Emirates. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that we are looking for everyone who may be captured.
A total of 3,405 of our people have been returned from Russian captivity since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, but it is not known for certain how many more Ukrainian defenders may be in captivity.
As Klymyk told UNN , no one knows the exact number of Ukrainian soldiers who may be in captivity, because there is a problem that Russia hides any data about those it holds captive, so it is almost impossible to calculate.
Because the Russian Federation does not provide data on prisoners of war, most servicemen are listed as missing, but in fact they may be in captivity.
"According to the latest data voiced by our officials, it is about 37 thousand. This includes both military and civilians. Since Russia does not provide any data on who it takes prisoners and who it keeps in captivity, we cannot understand and calculate the exact number of those who are missing, as we do not have such information," Klymyk said.
Investigators can only guess how many Ukrainian soldiers may be in captivity. And also learn from people who have already been released from captivity.
"We only find out when someone is released from captivity. During exchanges. They are the only ones that currently allow us to at least roughly estimate the number of people in detention facilities, but recently, if at the beginning people were released from different places of detention, now we see that it is usually 2-3 colonies. Accordingly, we can roughly imagine. For example, according to official data, the colony is designed for about 1 thousand people, and the prisoners say that according to their calculations, the colony was completely full. Some colonies, for example, have 800 places for detention, and in cells designed for 4 people, 8 were held," Klymyk adds.
Where Ukrainian military may be held
Ukrainian prisoners can be held both in the occupied territories and in the territory of the Russian Federation.
"We have a lot of places of detention on the territory of the temporarily occupied territories - Donetsk and Luhansk regions, mostly. This is Horlivka - colony No. 4. Kirovska correctional colony No. 33, Makiivka colony, where those who have been convicted are often transferred. In Luhansk region, these are Sverdlovsk and Sukhodolsk colonies. For some time the premises of the former shoe factory in Pervomaysk were also used. It was used as a place of detention. There are many SIZOs on the temporarily occupied territories in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, as well as in Mariupol. We also know that Chongar is also used as a place of detention," Klymyk said.
However, according to her, many places in the colonies in Russia have been freed up to hold Ukrainian prisoners of war in the regions near the border with Ukraine - Rostov and Belgorod. It is also known that prisoners are being transported to the interior of Russia - the Republic of Mordovia, Orenburg, Smolensk, Tver, Voronezh, Vladimir, and Ivanovo regions.
"In fact, in every region of Russia, you can find some place that they use to hold Ukrainian prisoners of war. Such special places are allocated for those who are convicted... There is a place of detention called "Black Dolphin" in the Orenburg region, where Russian criminals sentenced to life imprisonment are held, but they also bring convicted Ukrainian prisoners of war there. In fact, they use every colony, every place of detention. The Russians can free the entire place of detention for prisoners of war, or they can divide it into parts: Ukrainian prisoners of war are held in one part, and local prisoners are held in the other," the investigator adds.
She also emphasizes that the treatment of prisoners in detention centers on the temporarily occupied territories in Ukraine is much more lenient than in colonies and pre-trial detention centers in Russia.
The journalist attributes this to the fact that many Ukrainians remain in the occupied territories. However, according to her, those released from captivity say that there are also quite a few Russians working in the occupied territories in the colonies, who are sent on business trips.
"At the beginning, there were beatings and terrible treatment, but later it became a little more normalized. There are barrack-type colonies. People have patios where they can walk. They have the opportunity to do something to occupy themselves. To do some work. It's not always forced. A person can agree or disagree. But there are also places like disciplinary isolation wards, and if you end up there, the conditions are much more brutal. You might not even have done anything in the barracks, but you can be transferred to a disciplinary isolation ward just for fun, and the conditions there are much more cruel than in the barracks," Klymyk emphasizes.
However, when a person gets to the territory of Russia, the attitude there is completely different from what it was in the beginning in Olenivka or Horlivka. In fact, every place is terrible because they do not provide medical care as it should be.
She admits that the conditions in the Russian colonies are terrible, because these are places for people who have been imprisoned for war crimes, but they also hold prisoners of war. That is, special camps should have been created for them, as it should have been according to the Geneva Conventions. These are ordinary pre-trial detention centers, ordinary colonies.
"Every place of detention has a very poor food situation. We can see this by the condition in which our servicemen released from captivity return. How much weight they lose," the investigator adds.
She adds that one of the colonies with harsh conditions is a colony in the Republic of Mordovia - Correctional Colony No. 10.
"They are forced to stand for days on end. The conditions in the cells are terrible, the treatment is terrible. They constantly use stun guns and do not provide medical care. This is due to the fact that each colony has local guards and secondees from different regions. And very often it happens that they change every three weeks, and they can arrive quite adequate, who may not be too cruel, may use physical force at a minimum. Or they can arrive so cruel that all these three weeks, while their shift lasts, the conditions in this colony are simply unbearable. And they just mock everyone," Klymyk said.
According to her, analyzing the testimonies of soldiers from different brigades, the detention centers where marines from Mariupol are held have the worst treatment. That is, all the defenders of Mariupol, the Azov, the 36th Marine Brigade, the 501st Battalion. They are treated more cruelly than soldiers from other brigades. But this is also not a permanent fact.
"Everyone is treated equally, but the military from Mariupol are a little bit biased, because Russia is trying to accuse them of being the ones who abused civilians, of killing civilians. This is how they try to shift the crimes of the Russian army onto the Ukrainian military," the journalist adds.
Trials of military personnel
"We are trying to keep track of all the court verdicts that are being made against our servicemen. According to our estimates, it is about 350 cases. But recently, the number of these court sentences has been increasing. Previously, the sentences were passed on representatives of the 36th Brigade and Azov, but now, since they have declared Aidar a terrorist organization, all Aidar representatives, even those who once served in Aidar, are also being tried for participation in terrorism," Klymyk adds.
When asked what crimes the Ukrainian military is most often tried for, she replied that "our military is usually tried for participation in a ‘terrorist organization’, ‘countering a special military operation’ and ‘killing civilians’.
