COPENHAGEN, 17 June 2025 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly leaders, including President Pia Kauma (Finland), members of the Parliamentary Support Team for Ukraine, and the leadership of the Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, today raised strong concerns about the Russian Federation’s treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). Reports from the United Nations have indicated that over 95 per cent of released POWs have testified to violations of detention conditions, including torture, lack of medical care, and forced confessions.
Ukrainian POWs have endured starvation, denial of medical care, beatings for speaking Ukrainian, and various forms of coercion, including physical, sexual, and psychological violence. Verified evidence, including a photograph of a Ukrainian soldier released from captivity with severe scars and words “glory to Russia” burned into his body, underscores the horrific conditions faced by POWs, the OSCE PA leaders noted. In a statement issued today, the PSTU members and human rights committee leaders said the following:
“We strongly condemn the systematic violations of international law, the laws and customs of war, particularly the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1949) and the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (1977), by the Russian Federation.
We call upon all parties to uphold the Geneva Conventions, ensuring the humane treatment of POWs and accountability for war crimes. We support the efforts of mediators engaged in the process of POW exchanges, including an all-for-all exchange.
Further, we urge the international community to support the safe return of all Ukrainian civilians and POWs from Russian captivity.
We support Ukraine and the international community in documenting these violations, gathering evidence for national and international legal proceedings. In particular, we strongly support the invaluable work of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine in documenting and exposing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Through its thorough investigations and detailed reports, the HRMMU provides critical evidence that helps ensure accountability and justice for victims.
Finally, we call on the international community to take decisive action to hold perpetrators accountable and secure justice for those affected.”
Torture is widespread and systematic in Russian detention, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), and often occurs repeatedly to individuals over prolonged periods of time. The main forms of torture and ill-treatment include severe beatings, electric shocks, suffocation, prolonged stress positions, excessive exercise, sleep deprivation, mock executions, threats of severe violence to the individual or their family, and humiliation. Sexual violence is also prevalent and the HRMMU has recorded some cases of mutilation.
Conditions of detention are dire. Prisoners lack medical care and nutritious food, which has severe impact on health even after release. Furthermore, executions of captured soldiers have reportedly increased significantly between late August 2024 and May 2025. The HRMMU recorded credible allegations of the execution of 106 soldiers in this period. POWs continue to die in custody due to torture, lack of health care or inhumane conditions.
Compounding these grave human rights abuses, families often do not receive notification on the whereabouts or fate of individuals and regular communication is not allowed, leaving loved ones in anguish. Furthermore, the UN HRMMU indicates an environment enabling violations to occur, sometimes with impunity. Key factors include:
- Russian public officials have explicitly called for inhumane treatment and even executions.
- HRMMU has documented direct orders or endorsements of reported executions by military groups linked to the Russian armed forces, which have been publicly shared on social media.
- Videos of executions, apparently filmed by Russian military personnel, often contain threats suggesting that active Ukrainian military personnel will face similar treatment.
- Russian government officials, other public figures, and state-owned media regularly use dehumanizing language when referring to Ukrainian POWs.
In June 2023, the Russian Federation adopted broad laws exempting Russian military personnel from accountability, which were further expanded in March 2024.
“The Parliamentary Support Team for Ukraine and the leadership of the human rights committee of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly strongly condemn the inhumane treatment of civilians and POWs in Russian captivity, as well as documented executions of POWs,” the statement concluded.
This statement aligns with the Bucharest Declaration of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, reaffirming the Assembly’s commitment to defending human rights and international humanitarian law. For more information on the conditions of POWs, please see the UN HRMMU’s recent reports, here, here and here.
