By: Elaine Wang

In a recent report by Human Rights Watch, the Russian military is abusing Ukrainian citizens in the conquered regions of southern Ukraine.

Yulia Gorbunova, a senior Ukraine researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated, “Russian forces have turned occupied areas of southern Ukraine into an abyss of fear and wild lawlessness. Torture, inhumane treatment, as well as arbitrary detention and unlawful confinement of civilians, are among the apparent war crimes we have documented.”

In the report, Human Rights Watch claimed to have interviewed 71 people in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, who described 42 cases where “Russian forces had help people incommunicado or in which people had disappeared after having been detained”, NYT says. The report added that injuries included cuts, concussions, broken teeth, bones, ribs, and blood vessels, as well as severe burns. The report further described the torture of three captive officers at Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, resulting in two dying.

“People interviewed described being tortured, or witnessing torture, through prolonged beatings and in some cases electric shocks,” the report stated.

Starting February, Russian military conquered areas along the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts, including territory in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Provinces, the NY Times states.

According to the New York Times, Kherson Province was the first in Ukraine that “saw large civilian protests against Russia’s occupation” early on in the war. Civilians soon started to use brute force thereafter, which has become “more brutal in Kherson as insurgents have carried out a series of bombings and attacks on local Russian proxy leaders”.

Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/24/world/europe/russia-torture-ukraine-human-rights-watch.html