Ruslan Odaiskyi told Franceinfo he was abused after capture in Donbas. His account comes amid a UN report on the treatment of prisoners of war.
A recent report by the UN human rights office describes systematic torture and sexual abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia. The UN says 96% of soldiers returned from Russian captivity had been tortured.
Former prisoner Ruslan Odaiskyi told Franceinfo that he was wounded and lost consciousness during shelling in Donbas on December 4, 2022. He says he awoke bound and in the hands of Russian soldiers. During the next 48 hours, he was interrogated and abused, including through a simulated execution, threats to hang him, electric shocks and gunfire close to him.
Odaiskyi said he spent six months in a camp in Russia without knowing where he was, then faced questioning by FSB officers and transfers between detention facilities, including a centre in Stary Oskol and a penal colony in Mordovia. He described renewed violence during intake procedures. In Mordovia, he said, prisoners were stripped in temperatures of minus 25 to minus 28 degrees and forced to walk barefoot between buildings. He also reported humiliation, lack of medical care and poor food.
Odaiskyi was released in a prisoner exchange on June 16, 2025, after 925 days in captivity. Lawyer Nestor Barchuk told Franceinfo that similar practices were reported in facilities thousands of kilometres apart. Kyiv counts about 186 detention sites in Russia and occupied parts of Ukraine.
Oleh Martynenko of the Center for Civil Liberties said the abuses could constitute war crimes and, if widespread, might amount to crimes against humanity or genocide. This is an advocate’s legal assessment, not a court ruling. Ukrainian authorities say at least 406 Ukrainians, military and civilian, have died in Russian captivity.