Torture of Ukrainian prisoners 'Widespread and systematic,' UN rights official says

ByREUTERSAUGUST 11, 2026 04:50Former Ukrainian detainees and Ukrainian officials accused Russia on Monday of systematically torturing prisoners of war and civilian detainees, holding captives incommunicado and subjecting them to beatings, electric shocks and sexual abuse, with thousands still in captivity.Russia rejected the allegations made at an informal UN Security Council meeting, with its Deputy UN Representative Maria Zabolotskaya calling it “a disinformation campaign” and alleging that Russian prisoners in Ukraine were subjected to “torture and degradation and moral and physical abuse.”Khuan Alberto Levya Garsiya, still an active member of the Ukrainian military, said his Russian captors subjected him to every imaginable form of torture during 1,183 days in captivity."Yes ... I was