Russia dey hold thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians as prisoners of war, human rights groups and media like Kyiv Independent talk am. When Russia take Ukrainian captive, e often contact the prisoner relatives and ask them to help Russia, according to Ukrainians.
Polina, middle-aged woman from eastern Ukraine, see serious pain when Russian troops capture her hometown for 2022 and seize her ailing father. Her papa blind for one eye and e dey walk with cane. Russian authorities contact her on social media and demand she assist them to make sure her father, now 71, dey treated well.
They pressure me for four months. They want me to gather some information about one of their attacks, Polina talk. Another time, the Russians send her video of her father. They talk, ‘Look, he’s OK. He’s smiling. And you haven’t done anything for us yet.’ They kind of pressure me, like, ‘It’s time to do something,’ she talk.
Polina flee her hometown and now live for northern part of country wey still under Ukrainian control. She no help the Russians, and they eventually stop contacting her. But they accuse her father of spying for Ukraine and hold him nearly four years. Polina ask say make we use only her first name because she fear for her father safety.
Petro Yatsenko, Ukrainian government spokesman for agency wey dey deal with families of prisoners held by Russia, talk say Russia dey exploit this by withholding information for formal government channels. Instead, Russians contact Ukrainian families directly. Russia never shares any official information about people wey dem imprison, Yatsenko talk. He believe two Russian agencies, military intelligence, or GRU, and main domestic security agency, FSB, dey run this highly orchestrated campaign.
When Russians capture Ukrainian, soldier or civilian, they look up prisoner social media profile and begin contacting family members, Yatsenko talk. Russia often tell relatives to do things like check out security at key locations in their hometowns, or join demonstrations against Ukraine government. Yatsenko talk say most Ukrainians refuse and pass on the information to Ukrainian authorities. He give simple message to families: ‘Our main advice is very short but very strict. Don’t believe. Don’t ask anything. And don’t be afraid.’
Russia and Ukraine dey periodically exchange POWs. Nearly 10,000 Ukrainian troops don free and similar number of Russians don release, according to both sides. Neither side talk how many prisoners still dey held. While both sides capture enemy soldiers, only Russia dey hold large number of civilians, and e rarely release them.
Russia sometimes let Ukrainian prisoners speak to their families. But Yatsenko talk say dem force them to deliver false messages: ‘Russia is treating me well and they are ready to free us. But the Ukrainian government does nothing and that’s why I’m still here. Please, mom or dear wife or sister, protest in the street.’ ‘Of course, this is not true,’ he add.
Many Ukrainian prisoners talk upon their release say dem torture them for Russian captivity. A 2024 report from United Nations human rights office find say ‘Russian authorities have subjected Ukrainian POWs to widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment.’ The office talk say nearly all of 174 Ukrainian POWs interviewed since March 2023 report ‘torture or ill-treatment’ wey include ‘severe beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence, suffocation … and threats of severe violence to the individual or their family.’
The same report find say 104 of 205 Russian POWs, or 51 percent, talk say dem abuse them ‘during the initial stages of their captivity.’ The report add say ‘nearly all cases, torture and ill-treatment stopped when prisoners arrived at official places of internment (in Ukraine), where conditions appeared generally compliant with international standards.’
Valentina Shcherbyna talk say Russian seize her 21-year-old son Mykola, a civilian, for southern city of Kherson for November 2022. The Russians accuse him of spying, she talk. This past April, one unidentified Russian contact Shcherbyna on social media and demand $10,000. ‘I was afraid to make things worse for my son. I was really scared and I didn’t know what to do,’ she talk.
She contact Ukrainian policeman wey dey handle her son case. The policeman check around and come back with surprising news — good news. Her son bin about to be released. Apparently the Russian wey contact her bin dey try extort money before her son free. Mykola now home, one of the few civilians wey don release.
‘He was beaten and after that they made him stand. His legs were swollen. He stood for 21 days, resting only at night. He lost a lot of weight. But his mental state is OK,’ Shcherbyna talk about her son.
Meanwhile, Polina, whose 71-year-old father still dey captivity, fear for his health. Whenever the two sides trade prisoners, she hope say he go free. ‘With every exchange, I’m waiting for him,’ she talk. Russia and Ukraine trade more than 200 prisoners last month. Her father no dey among them.
