Terrible photos of Ukrainian prisoners released by Russia spread

Thousands of Ukrainians have been detained in Russian camps since the invasion in February 2022. Several of them are captured men during the russian invasionwhich spent more than two years in prison where they suffered all kinds of deprivations and punishments.

The shocking images were broadcast on Telegram by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, a Ukrainian government body.

Who are the prisoners

One of the photos corresponds to Roman Gorilyk, ex-guard from the checkpoint of the Chernobyl nuclear power plantin northern Ukraine, which fHe was captured by Russian forces in March 2022shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“The condition of Roman and other Ukrainian prisoners of war evokes horror and associations with the darkest pages of human history: Nazi concentration camps“said the Ukrainian government.

“Starvation torture is monstrous, beatings and violence are sophisticated”

Gorilyk, who returned five days ago thanks to a prisoner exchangewas captured along with others 168 people guarding the nuclear power plant. 89 of them are believed to be still alive in various prisons.

Another gloomy image is that of Volodimir Tsema Butsovmusician of the Chamber Philharmonic of Mariupol who was also a soldier of the 56th Ukrainian Brigade. They kidnapped him from his house of that city in April 2022.

The third is Oleksandr Zhukova civilian captured in his home in Melitopol in April 2022. They accused him of terrorism.

“Starvation torture is monstrous, beatings and violence are sophisticated. There are no Geneva Conventions anymore,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, after accusing Russia of ignoring international agreements.

According to the Geneva Conventions, the set of international laws that regulate armed conflicts, prisoners of war must be treated with humanity and dignityand they should be provided with basic daily food rations.

Prisoner exchange

These Ukrainians are part of a contingent of 75 prisoners that Russia and Ukraine exchanged on May 31. This is the first exchange of this type in the last three months. Bodies from both sides were also returned.

According to the agency Associated Presswhen getting off the buses that the prisoners brought them They shouted with joy and called their families.. Some knelt and kissed the ground, bursting into tears. They were all emaciated.

Ukraine has already recovered 3,200 prisoners with the latest exchanges, including soldiers and civilians. According to the kyiv government, there are thousands of civilians detained by Russian forces in the eastern cities that were occupied.

Civilians as currency

The Ukrainian government number of civilians captured by the Russians is 1,700but human rights organizations estimate that the real number is between five and seven times higher.

Total, about 37,000 Ukrainians, civilian adults and children, and militaryare missing, according to the Ukrainian ombudsman’s office.

Many of the detainees have been transferred to prisons inside Russiawhere they are kept alongside criminals and prisoners of war.

Human rights groups have identified about 100 detention centers in Russia and in occupied areas of Ukraine where civilians are being held, including several that have been opened or expanded specifically to accommodate them.

“The Russians want to recognize many of them as military combatants and give them prisoner of war status. The main reason is to build a bank of prisoners of war for exchanges“, denounced the Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets.