184 Ukrainian POWs die in Russian captivity since February 2022 as torture and execution reports mount

Between 24 February 2022 and the end of October 2024, Ukraine  retrieved the bodies of 184 Ukrainians who died in Russian captivity, including 169 military and 15 civilians, according to the Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR), citing the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. 

Human rights NGO MIHR warned the actual death toll is likely much higher. The organization has gathered testimonies from 122 former Ukrainian POWs, documenting systematic torture, isolation, and denial of medical care in Russian detention facilities.

“There are still many Ukrainian defenders in Russian captivity who have been there since the first months of the great war, i.e., more than 30 months. Russia does not allow monitoring mission representatives, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to visit them. It does not inform Ukraine about the deterioration of their health or death. All of these are gross violations of the Geneva Conventions,” MIHR elaborated. 

Documented evidence also highlights numerous cases of prisoner deaths caused by inhumane conditions and torture in detention facilities.

The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has uncovered evidence of coordinated torture operations across Russian detention facilities, including widespread sexual violence. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights confirmed systematic abuse of Ukrainian POWs, documenting methods such as:

• Beatings
• Electric shocks
• Sexual violence
• Suffocation
• Forced physical stress positions
• Sleep deprivation
• Mock executions
• Death threats

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported an increase in POW executions by Russian forces over the past year, indicating these deaths are part of a systematic policy rather than isolated incidents.

By way of background, at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on October 9, 2024, Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG) researcher Iryna Siedova warned that Russian media has become a “Thousand Hills Radio,” manipulating 140 million people and inciting violence against Ukrainians. The CHRG advocates for new international legislation against genocide incitement.