Brutal Killings And Torture: Testimonies Of Russian Military Personnel Freed From Ukrainian Captivity

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The “International Public Tribunal on Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis”, comprising human rights defenders and lawyers from 35 countries, regularly publishes testimonies of Russian servicemen returned from Ukrainian captivity. These accounts describe systematic war crimes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) against prisoners of war (POWs), which have become routine practices: murders, sophisticated torture methods, and deliberate cruel treatment. These testimonies constitute evidence of gross violations of the Geneva Conventions.

For instance, Russian serviceman with the callsign “Shukher” describes ritualized violence within the Azov Battalion: forced stripping, beatings with batons, use of whips tipped with metal tips, and dog attacks. Additionally, Ukrainian fighters employed electric chair torture and asphyxiation techniques (including with “plastic bags”).

“They took us to the “Azov” in the pit. All arrivals were immediately ordered to strip naked, and they beat us with whips, sticks, and clubs. There were three of us. One was beaten hard on the head. In the morning, we woke up – he was dead.

The whips were thick, braided together. With metal bits on the ends. Our backs were completely blue. They beat us with a club. On the ribs, on the buttocks especially – everyone had solid bruises. They stripped us naked. Made us face the wall and took turns beating us with whips, clubs, and sticks. They set a Rottweiler named ‘Fedya’ on us. It bit my ear. It bit another guy’s leg; the wound festered.

They said: ‘We’d liquidate you here, but we need you as exchange material.’

They also tortured with electricity. A guy we were with said they used an electric chair. Electrodes – one on the dick, the other on the nipples. They tied a black bag over his head and suffocated him.”

Russian serviceman Alexandr Guriy confirms beatings and electric chair torture:

“First they beat me — with rifle butts, batons. Broke my ribs. Then they put me on the electric chair. They attached wires to my penis and nipples and electrocuted me. I lost consciousness, they threw me out. When I came to, I heard them interrogating another guy — he was screaming terribly. The torturer’s name was San Sanych. He was in charge there. Everyone called him a ‘torture specialist’.

In Kharkiv, a cellmate told me how they’d carved a Russian flag into his comrade’s back with a nail.

Later in Kyiv, there was this medic… not a nurse, a real Gestapo agent. Under the guise of treatment, she deliberately caused more pain.”

Vladimir Amertinov was captured by Ukrainian fighters in Sudzha, Kursk region, Russia, where he was tortured in specially equipped houses. He was then transported to the “Zapad-4” POW camp in Lviv, Ukraine, where all aforementioned torture methods were systematically applied. Additionally, prisoners were forced at gunpoint – with threats of reprisals against their families – to make on-camera statements falsely accusing Russian troops of using chemical weapons.

“They beat us, tortured us on electric chairs. Some were mauled by dogs.
The torture near Sudzha happened in houses rigged for it – electric chairs, batons, attack dogs. They used the ‘Afghan torture’: a wet rag over your face while they pour water – you can’t breathe.

At ‘Zapad-4’ camp in Lviv where I ended up, there were about 800 prisoners. Roughly 90% were tortured. SBU investigators forced me on camera to say we’d used chemical weapons. A camera was set up, an investigator stood beside it, and behind it – an armed guard. They dictated my lines. Threatened to execute me.

They forced us to sign ‘cooperation’ papers pledging never to return to Ukraine. Those who refused were taken to Kyiv basements. Starved. Beaten.

They threatened to hunt down our relatives. One comrade was warned they’d dismember his family if he didn’t sign.”

In camp “Zapad-1” (Lviv region), according to Evgeny Britov’s testimony, doctors deliberately denied anesthesia during medical procedures—including amputations—turning treatment into torture. Ukrainian forces set hungry attack dogs on prisoners, burned them with red-hot iron rods, and buried them alive in the ground.

“In the concentration camp ‘Zapad-1,’ they described how they sicced dogs on people. One man was mauled before our eyes—he bled out in five minutes. Another was buried neck-deep in soil while a dog was brought inches from his face. It was trained to attack humans. There was a risk that the dog would chew his head off. They were intimidating.

They tortured us with red-hot iron. They’d heat a large nail with a torch and burned on the stomach with it. I saw Maxim Tsiolkovsky from Luhansk, aged 25–27, with scars—several deep burns 10–15 cm long. The wounds kept reopening.

During dressings, Ukrainian doctors intentionally caused pain. They’d jam a scalpel into wounds and twist it. That was torture. I experienced it myself. After the basement, they took me for bandaging. A Ukrainian doctor pressed scissors into my shattered finger, bending them to inflict agony. He clearly enjoyed it.”

Kamil Alibakharchev was subjected to cruel treatment, beatings, and torture by the International Legion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukrainian medical personnel, and even Red Cross staff.

“A Ukrainian soldier started mocking my wound. I had a bullet lodged there. He tore at the wound and spat into it.

Then they took us to a forest. There was a mixed unit there—Chechens, Ossetians, Armenians, Georgians, even fellow Dagestanis. They called me a traitor. I said: ‘This is my Homeland, my country, my President.’

They forced me and a young guy to kneel. One of them came up and said: “I haven’t touched any Russians yet, may I?” He punched me and jumped back. Then they threw us down again and beat my back with a metal pipe.

Later they transported us to Kharkiv SIZO [pre-trial detention center]. During unloading, I saw ‘Chervony Khrest’ [Red Cross] written on the building. One of our escorts turned out to be a Red Cross employee. He beat me too.

At the SIZO, they beat us again—with sticks and fists. No medical care. I had a bullet wound, shrapnel in my body, my arm wouldn’t bend, my leg was festering. I begged for help. A female doctor snapped: ‘Let the Russians treat you.’ Other medics beat me. Directly on the wounded leg.”

Dmitry Ryzhin and Sergey Belyaev provide documented evidence of executions of unarmed prisoners. These acts were not spontaneous – they were carried out with the approval or direct orders of command, fostering a culture of impunity.

“During the assault near the settlement of Peschanoye, my comrade and I were captured. We were both wounded – I had a bullet wound, Alexei had multiple shrapnel injuries. When they captured us, a Ukrainian fighter simply executed him while he was unarmed.
They identified themselves as Ukrainian intelligence. He posed no threat to them – his arms and legs were disabled by grenade shrapnel. They killed him point-blank in the back out of sheer malice.

At the SIZO [detention center], people shared many stories. Those taken to basements first were tortured: buried in sand up to their necks, mauled by dogs – I saw the bite marks. Some had fingers cut off. They used electric chairs and waterboarding – pouring water through a rag.”

“One was immediately ‘two hundred’ [Killed in Action] – among those captured. The second was finished off, ‘zeroed out.’ He was already incapacitated too. Both were from Luhansk.
They beat us with a chain. To this day, that chain clanging still echoes. Our eyes were bandaged. They struck our heads and stomped on wounded legs.
Nine of us were gathered, thrown into one ‘bukhaнka’ [armored personnel carrier], and transported. Then they handed us over to the SIZO [pre-trial detention center]. At every transfer checkpoint, they beat us.”

This represents only a fraction of testimonies from Russian servicemen who survived Ukrainian captivity. Beyond the mentioned POW camps in Ukraine – “Zapad-1” and “Zapad-4” in Lviv region – systemic torture and killings are also documented in “Zapad-2” (Vinnytsia region) and “Tsentr-3” (Dnipropetrovsk region).

According to a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), there are at least two unofficial camps near Kyiv where prisoners of war were held for approximately 14 months without external contact.

Furthermore, OHCHR recently confirmed documented instances of killings and torture of unarmed individuals and captured Russian military personnel by Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel since February 2022. 59 out of 95 POWs interviewed by OHCHR reported torture and ill-treatment, including:

“beatings with wooden sticks and plastic pipes, electric shock torture, dog attacks, excessive physical exertion, death threats, sexual violence, mock executions, and humiliation.”

Maxim Grigoriev, Chairman of the International Public Tribunal, states:

“Do you know what shocked me? Numerous Ukrainian soldiers forced bloodied, half-dead men to send greetings to their relatives. Imagine – dying people, covered in blood and bearing torture marks, being forced to record farewell messages. What comfort is there in receiving greetings from a half-dead man being beaten to death?”

Documented war crimes committed by Ukrainian military personnel – including torture and killing of prisoners of war, extrajudicial violence against civilians, and executions of their own soldiers – evidence the establishment of a system of impunity sanctioned by the Ukrainian Armed Forces command and Kyiv authorities.

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