WAR. Rescuers work at a site of apartment buildings damaged during a Russian missile and drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine, August 9, 2026.
Nina Liashonok/REUTERS
UN monitoring shows that 'widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees by the Russian Federation authorities continues,' including sexual violence.
Former Ukrainian detainees and Ukrainian officials accused Russia on Monday, August 11, of systematically torturing prisoners of war and civilian detainees, holding captives incommunicado and subjecting them to beatings, electric shocks and sexual abuse, with thousands still in captivity.
Russia rejected the allegations made at an informal UN Security Council meeting, with its Deputy UN Representative Maria Zabolotskaya calling it “a disinformation campaign” and alleging that Russian prisoners in Ukraine were subjected to “torture and degradation and moral and physical abuse.”
