375 Ukrainians have died in Russian captivity

Ukraine's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said Wednesday at a Ukrinform press conference that 375 Ukrainian citizens have been verified as having died in Russian captivity, based on bodies returned to Ukraine.

Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, said the names are held on a separate list and include Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages. He said they were verified as prisoners of war or civilians detained by the Russian Federation, including through the International Committee of the Red Cross verification mechanism.

“All of them have returned home on their shields, meaning that the Russian Federation handed over the bodies of 375 Ukrainian citizens who had been tortured to death,” Lubinets said.

He said Russia had created a system in which torture, humiliation and unlawful convictions had become instruments of war, describing it as the “Moscow Conventions.” He said the phrase was not a legal term but described Russia’s treatment of Ukrainians: “instead of protection there is torture; instead of medical care, suffering; instead of justice, sham trials; and instead of returning home, years in captivity or death.”

Lubinets said Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia are subjected to virtually all forms of torture outlined in the Istanbul Protocol. He said Ukrainian agencies and his office had documented 695 forms of torture used against Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages, 860 cases of inadequate detention conditions, and that 95% of Ukrainian prisoners of war had been subjected to torture in Russian prisons.

He said the methods include beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence, psychological abuse, attacks by dogs and mock executions. As of May 2026, at least 2,442 Ukrainian citizens had been verified as facing criminal prosecution by Russia, including 1,717 already sentenced, while Ukraine had opened 635 pretrial investigations into mistreatment of prisoners of war from February 24, 2022, to July 10, 2026, according to figures Lubinets attributed to the Prosecutor General’s Office.